Well, I decided after not staying in shape and being off the bike for about a month and a half, it was time to take a plunge and try a cross race. I knew I was unconditioned, but I thought this would give me the motivation to get my lazy butt back on the bike.
I showed up to the race, registered, and realized, my gosh, it's really cold and windy today. It hard rained the two days before the race, so I knew it was going to be a bit muddy. I was talking with someone who frequently does cross races and he said to be sure to do a couple warm up laps. I did one "warm up" lap that was more like a "now i'm worn out and need to race lap" It was incredibly hard. After the one warm up lap, I figured I was not quite toasty and ready to race.
We lined up, the whistle blew and off we went. The course started a little flat and quickly went to a climb. I made the climb, did a switch back, went down hill and on to another climb. This climb was much steeper and off the bike I went, pushing it up the hill. Back on, down a hill and uh-oh, here come some barriers!! I haven't ever tried to smoothly dismount/mount my bike (the videos of people doing it make it look so easy!) and well, it isn't so easy. I SUCKED at mounting and dismounting. Over the obstacles, back on the bike, into a big climb and on and on and on. The course was incredibly hard!! I talked with the person I knew there and he said this was the hardest course he's been to this season. I have nothing to compare it to, but gosh, it was hard.
Overall, I finished dead last in my group :( :( It was my first race ever, I haven't been training, so I didn't expect to do well, but still had hopes of beating at least one person in my group. There were only 7 of us and all the other women were very friendly and a heck of a lot quicker than me! I was correct though, it has definitely motivated me to train. Even though I sucked, I still enjoyed the challenge. I really want to train more so at the next race, I can hang with the other girls.
To anyone thinking about doing it, just do it. It's fun, it's a challenge, and it's only 1/2 hour!
