Leavenworth Bike and Brews Fest!

The Leavenworth Bike and Brews Fest took place this weekend, which is the third mountain bike race in the Indie Series. I drove over Friday night with my camping gear to secure a spot at the race site. Many thanks to the land owner who let everyone camp out -- it rocked! I even enjoyed sunshine and warm weather, making the trip completely worthwhile!

I don't even have words to describe how insanely fun this course was, but damn I'm sore today. The first 4 miles were straight uphill, then the last 4 miles were straight down. The women's beginner class had a fantastic turnout of over 20 riders, so I knew I needed a good position at the start for the climb. Until nearly halfway up I rode solidly in the top five but then lost it. My endurance isn't so great right now, so I slowly started falling back and getting passed. I'm usually a climber, so this frustrated me, but I hung in there.

Once at the top, we were rewarded with a fantastic 4-mi downhill complete with waterbars, which are perpendicular dirt mounds that help prevent erosion. The first couple I took pretty easy but then started hitting them faster and faster until I had a near death experience on a steeper one towards the end. A few more pounds shifted to the front would have endo'd me for sure, but I saved it and continued on down to take 10th place. My climbing disappointed me, but given my sporadic and limited training this year, I'm happy with my finish.

I wish I could say I had an accident free race, but the third creek crossing sent me for a shallow swim. The trail dropped down a bit into the water and caught me off guard. My weight was too far forward and then I had a big no-no and grabbed a little front brake. I tried to pull off the "jump over the front of my bike and push it under me maneuver" but got my left foot caught in my cleat and took a hard tumble right into the water. Damn that was cold! My shoulder is a bit angry at me today so hopefully it heals up in time for softball tomorrow. Ugh.

The fourth creek crossing was nearly identical to the third and I managed to do the EXACT same thing on that one too. Nice job. Too bad there aren't any photos, but maybe that's a good thing! After the race I supported some teammates, drank lots of Fat Tire, then hung out at the beer festival. After heading into town and grabbing dinner with friends, I crawled back into my tent around 10pm and slept better than I have in weeks.

Cucina Fresca had a great weekend, taking home three podium spots and several top 10s. Way to go guys and gals! Cheers to a fantastic weekend of mountain biking, drinking, hanging with teammates, and meeting tons of new cool people!