Last year this race was my second ever mountain bike race and I remember calling it a 'crit on dirt'. Yep, it hasn't changed. After seeing the weather forecast a few days ago I fully expected another muddy and wet race. What a surprise to have sunshine, warm temps, and a mostly dry course!
I didn't race strongly on this course last year and stayed true to form this year too. With no long climbs or technical sections I think it favors the power rider who can just drop the hammer and time trial the whole thing. Definitely not me. And definitely not with my legs totally wasted.
Yesterday I didn't think I'd be riding, so I did a tough track workout in the morning. Then a friend called me later and said the T-word: Tiger. Between Tiger and the track I woke up with some pretty damn tired legs today. They felt like lead on my warm up lap and never really came out of it.
We had a great turn out of women and actually staggered our start into age groups for the first time. Way cool! I managed a 3rd place start going into the single track only to lose it in under 5 minutes. I pulled out of my left cleat on a little uphill kicker and nearly crashed. Nice job. Note to self: fix that damn loose pedal.
I probably should have fixed my front derailleur issue too. I had to stop more than a few times to put my chain back on. Just recently it started falling off when I hit any kind of big bump or sizable obstacle and no matter how hard I try, it will not suck back on the ring. On the third lap my derailleur got a little too snugly with the chain and added some nice musical ambiance to the race. At least I wasn't having a strong race or that would have big time sucked.
So overall, not a great finish for me today. I was way too near the rear. In fact, I might have been the rear. Meh. But the race was fun, the weather was beautiful, and I got a good 15 miles and 1:48:08 of high intensity training. Any riding in the sun is good riding! And my teammate Mercedes killed it out there and took home the win. She is amazing! I told her I'm tying a rope to her bike at the next race.
