Root 66 Winding Trails RACE #1!...

The day finally arrived; After a solid two weeks of butterflies and me turning to Billy saying "I'M SCARED" I am proud to say I finished my first CAT 3 Root 66 race with a red 3rd place medal hanging from my neck.


To start it all off; I worked a long shift at my part time serving job, and by long I mean about 10 hours on my feet, nonstop, with no food, and usually minimal time to use a bathroom or take a sip of water. I made  it a point to ride 45 minutes on the trainer before with a workout Billy gave me to prepare my legs for the race; my legs felt OK. I continued my day with drinking as much water as I could possibly chug every hour in a time frame of about 50 seconds (which is the time frame that I have between my section at work slowly going up in flames because I'm not there). I wanted to make sure I prepared the best I could for my race, ending up drinking about 7-16 ounce water bottles.


As soon as I got home I laid in bed, falling asleep probably around 9-9:30pm; waking up at 4:45am. YUCK. We woke up to the sound of pouring rain and a intense wind storm...I thought to myself, "hmm maybe I won't race today" but what kind of attitude is that!! Billy and I packed up the car and headed to Farmington, CT, about a 2 hour drive west.


We arrived around 8am, (my race is at 9am) so the pressure was on to get ready and try to pre ride the course a bit to warm up my legs. I felt crappy, my legs burned up a tiny dirt hill, I wasn't going over any of the logs because I had no confidence, but I just tried to tell myself, "it's all about the experience, as long as I finish, I'm happy."


9am; it was time to race. All the CAT 3 racers began to line up, CAT 3 women all start together because it is such a small group of women, there is no need to start the age categories seperately. Looking around and listening to the girls talk made me more and more comfortable, they all seemed to be on my level, some had other racing history in cyclocross and road, and were giving mtb-ing a try. This is really only my second year riding a mountain bike, nevermind racing or riding any other type of bike, so I was a little inexperienced, but I know I have a lot of technical skills compared to others, just lacking bike fitness (getting there though!)

The whistle blew and we were off, my plan was to hold a good place, about 3rd, and pace myself throughout the race. The race started up a dirt gradual climb and then right into single track, I'm pretty sure I sat about 5th/6th with the group of women, and about 3rd in my category going into the singletrack. We all approached a steep downhill with a log in the middle, very easy to just roll over, the mud made my bike slip a bit but I had total control. I started feeling great right from the start; extremely strong. The trail weaved left and right, all singletrack, and as I approached a short climb with some roots I knew I had it down, root-y climbs are my "thing."

Two of the girls in my CAT had some trouble on the climb, one girl fell and the other had troubles with something at the top, this gave me a chance to break away. I powered up the hill and kept a good yet fast pace for almost about 3/4 of the rest of the first lap. I kept my eye on the back of me, now in first, just to make sure no one was creeping up behind me, I felt awesome. The trail was great, I made it up every climb (except a rediculous one at the end)...

and was not afraid of any of the techincal points of the trail. There was an insane mud bog towards the end of the course, which really slowed me down because right after getting out of it was some more climbs, my bike felt like cement was drying on my chain. Right near the end of the first lap the girl who fell on the climb passed me, and at that point I felt a little drained from the mud and climb.

I ended up losing sight of her a little bit into the 2nd lap but was totally happy knowing I at least had 2nd place, although 3rd place was right behind me. I made a silly mistake on one of the logs and ended up toppling over and allowing 3rd place to catch 2nd. From that point I was on 2nd place's tire the entire lap, I never lost sight of her and never let her gain to much of a gap. She slowed down a lot of some technical climbs and downhills, but I just kept right behind her hoping for a chance to speed passed. Right towards the end, the trail goes onto a paved road; I felt awesome and noticed she really wasn't pushing too hard, I told myself, "Just power by and pass her" but for some reason I made the choice to keep behind and hold onto her back tire. MISTAKE. I forgot that the end of the race is rediculously slow and sandy and by that point my legs had no more power.

 She ended up crossing the finish line 11 seconds before me; I was actually OK with it. I honestly thought I had no chance to place, and was just hoping to not finish in 2 hours. It was a 10.2 mile course, I finished in 1:11. My lap time last year was 41 minutes, this year is was 35.3. I am so excited and now even more excited to race this Saturday at a course I am completely familiar with, MASSASOIT.


Until then.......

Peanut Butter POW!

Yesterday marked the 2 weeks until my first race day!! I am still a bit nervous for the 10 miles of what I found to be hell when it was just 5 miles last year, but I feel a lot stronger and fit this time around. I had a great ride at Wampatuck State Park with one of the more larger groups I have ridden with (7 total).  The ride went great, I tried to really push myself with speed and keep up with the BikeBarn boys, and keeping up means coming up to them 10-20 seconds after they have stopped going hard.  I am extra proud that I made it up this giant, steady, never-ending climb that wasn't really part of our ride, but more an option to take the more intense route. It was the first time I said in my head "Shut up legs" as my boyfriend would explain. I felt the burn, and my legs just wanted to stop peddling but I kept telling myself, "Just keep going, you can do it": Mind Over Matter I suppose.

I almost gave my boyfriend a heart attack on the ride; as I chose to avoid a rock and take the inch of moss-like land next to the rock that could of led to a 6-foot drop into a river. We both would have gotten a nice cool down if that happened. But luckily I didn't realize at the time, that the ground beneath my wheels was paper thin and I rode right over it...or more over air as I was told by my jaw-dropped spectators.

Wampatuck is a great place to ride, with tons of trail options for any kind of rider. Our ride really consisted of trails I have never been on, and not really to my personal taste of how I like to ride. It was pretty flat, with a few roots here and there, and some climbs that were very gradual and un-technical. I really prefer to challenge myself with steep technical climbs that require you to act fast and choose the right lines, I feel it builds experience. One specific part of the ride I enjoyed was the twisting and turning downhill, that had a handful of berms to ride. Berms are something I need to get aquainted with, or more so, comfortable with. I feel once you can ride berms, you become one with your bike and let it dance through the trails. (Heard this saying from a friend, corny but totally true.)

(lame Berm example..)

I'm getting better and better at learning how to lift my bike. I was entertaining myself on my ride at Wampatuck when going over bridges that had a little drop at the end. Lifting my bike and getting some air (and by air I mean a foot if that). I felt cool though. Kind of like how I felt cool when I was taking a break (I know, I know:  "There are no breaks in races!") and sitting on my bike with one of my shoes clicked in and let go of the breaks and toppled over, letting my beauty hit the pavement, OUCH! No injuries, just laughs.

I am trying to get in as much riding as my schedule allows me, I'm determined and obsessed; I think that combination works really well with mountain biking...Until my next epic (or Era should I say) adventure, I'm just going to keep hoping summer is on it's way.