Fort Custer XC Race Result
After 2 weeks of rain and very little time in the saddle, my second race of the season finally arrived. I rode this trail once last year, so I had a tiny bit of an idea what to expect, but not much. It was a beautiful day for a race. I arrived at the race plenty early, warmed up, and took my place at the line...
This was my first XC race so I wasn't sure how to start, some people said to go hard and take the lead, others who had finished said not to because all the climbing was in the beginning. I decided I wasn't going to go all out at the start and let someone else set the pace. As I stood at the line, I scoped out my competition. There was one girl I spotted who was from a local University that I knew was going to be tough competition (we'll just call her Uni).
The gun shot and we were off. My team was cheering me on and well, I forgot my plan and went out hard! Uni got the lead, followed by me. I was happy with this position, but man...she was going fast! I was going pretty hard to keep up. As we came into the first downhill, she lost some traction, hit some sand and went down. I asked if she was OK, she said yes, and off I went. I was in the lead....
Then came the climbs. Ugh, I suck at climbing. I made it up the first with a lot of effort. The downhill was really technical, but I cleared it all. The second climb began and I was in way too hard of a gear. I prayed as I shifted under a ton of pressure, and well, my prayer wasn't answered because I dropped my chain! Off the bike I went, fixed my change and pushed my bike up the remainder of the hill while being passed my Uni.
And so the race continued....Uni and I kept sharing the lead. She messed up on a technical section and I took the lead. I clipped a tree with my handlebar and she took the lead. We were nearing the end of the race (last 1-2 miles) and she was in the lead, but I was gaining. I was going all out, just hoping to catch her. I caught up, was right on her tail, made a sharp right turn and ahhhhh....water! I have NEVER done a water crossing and all my focus was on the water and not on what was after the water. She floated through the water crossing, I lost all momentum, and was in a tough gear going into the climb immediately after the water. Off she went up the hill as I struggled to mash my pedals up the stupid hill. With less than a mile left, I let loose.
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The final results....
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Uni got 1st place. Me, I got second place (in the yellow shirt), I lost by 15 seconds. I'm happy with the results, it was nice to have a good challenge throughout the course.
