Sunday morning came a bit too early for me.
After a dinner party the night before and a
still sore back I wasn't sure how I was going
to pull another 30 minutes out of my body. As
of 5am I didn't even thing I could get out of
bed to make the race. Finally at 8:15 I convinced
myself that if my coach thinks it is best for
me it probably was. Dressed and in the car by
9:30. I wasn't too worried about time as I know
there was a bunch of sitting around before my
race the day earlier.
I warmed up a bit differently this day. First
I went on a small road jaunt for about 20 minutes
and got back in time to pre-ride the course
for 2 laps. Rolled up to the start line and
started my normal smiling at the glances. Half
of the girls from the day before weren't there
but they were replaced with what looked like
team clothed & ready to go girls. One of
the girls that was there from the day before,
Shannon, (I believe her name was) struck up
a conversation which was very welcoming. Once
the official started talking I started my normal
pre-game focusing. Since I had a clue what the
race was to bring I plotted out the course in
my mind as best as possible. Secretly I was
just hoping that the 4 Advils were going to
help relieve the pain in my back.
The CX4 men's class starts
a minute before the women. They went off and
I watched them through the first two turns.
The course had changed from the day before and
a sharp turn on a downhill was thrown into the
mix. The men bottlenecked hard. If I didn't
want to be taken out in that turn I needed to
get through it first. The official walks behind
us, I could thankfully see his shadow out of
the corner of my eye… whistle is moved
to the lips…I hear a tweet and off we
go.
Quickly shifting into a harder gear I do my
best to get in the lead into the first corner.
Success! I'm in the lead for the "bottleneck"
downhill corner. Two girls are sitting on my
wheel and I know they will blow past me on the
straight section before the first run up. After
the down hill I back off my pace a little bit
and concentrate on my dismount/running/mount.
Pick up the pace and do my best to sit on 3rd's
wheel.
A blur passes me and I'm now in 5th or 6th.
I do my best to stay there but in the 3rd lap
my back locks up again. Every hard bump in the
dirt or root through the woods required me to
grind my teeth and try to push through. On the
flat paved section I made up some time &
even towed around a couple guys from the 4's.
It wasn't enough. I was about 45 seconds behind
5th and a minute up on 7th.
In the end I know improvement was made from
the day before. Getting the hole shot off the
bat let me know my legs were there and I need
to just build up some endurance to keep it there.
Going into these races with only a month worth
of training and most of that base I was at a
disadvantage. Every girl I was racing against
had been racing the fall series and was in anaerobic
shape. With time and training I can see winning
B's this fall & moving up to A's. There
is a light at the end of the tunnel. Might be
in 10 months but there is a light.
WWCX
#2
