Moved Up to Sport....First Race Results!

[SalsaMTB]

So, I finally took the plunge and moved up to sport mountain bike racing. Looking at the results from races earlier this year, I knew the top girl would be impossible to beat. The 2nd and 3rd place girls would be almost impossible (their times were a decent amount faster than mine) and the other girls in the category were beatable.

This past weekend was my first race in sport class. Thankfully, it was a TT, so the distance was only 13 miles. The course is a flatter course with minimal singletrack. The flat part is to my advantage, the minimal singletrack isn't. I like singletrack, I can typically catch girls in that area. There were two water crossings, one of which requires dismounting the bike.

I prerode the trail on Thur and went down hard on my shoulder, causing me to finish it up one handed, when possible. I was a bit nervous going into the race because I still had shooting pain in my shoulder, but I took a motrin and figured my adrenaline would take care of the rest!

We arrived at the race, warmed up, and waited for our start. Dh took off ahead of me and I cheered him on. For TT races, they start us two at a time. I looked and realized I would be starting with the first place ranked sport female. We lined up next to each other, chatted a little (super nice girl) and then we were off. The ride went really well. The girl I started with dropped me after the first 0.5 miles, but I stayed focus and rode my race. I knew I couldn't hang with her, so it didn't bother me. I hit the first water crossing and cleared it. I passed a girl that started 30 seconds before me...woohoo! Then I hit the first singletrack section. I cleared a few log piles and rock gardens. Then came the off camber climb with the log pile. I didn't clear it in the preride but did during this race! I was able to stay really really focused during this race. During the last 2 miles I started having chain suck problems. Happened three times, during the last time a female racer passed me, who I thought may have been part of my group. I got the chain fixed and pushed hard to catch her. I thought she started before me so I had to at least finish right behind her. The last mile mile is all double track, so it's really easy to pass. It starts flat for about .5 miles, there is a left turn and then a long straght away, on thick grass, a bit of a gradual climb. For the first part, I pushed hard a caught up to her. I hung on to the back of her wheel until we made the left turn. I shifted to a hard gear, moved into the thicker grass and mashed by her. I was going all out for the final stretch and felt good as I passed the finish line.

The results.....I got second place!!!! I was sooo excited to get second place. The girl I passed at the end finished in third, behind me by about 30 seconds.
Dh finished in 1st place. We were both really happy at the end of the day!

[RoadRaven]

Woohoo Salsa

I don't mountain bike, but just had to give you a hearty

WOOHOO!!!

Racing is so much fun, and to have such a great result and experience for your first one...

You know once you are hooked into racing there is no going back!???

[TrekJeni]

Way to go SalsaMTB!

So you decided to cat up, huh? Good for you. And a second place. Awesome.
Can't wait to hook up with you at Interbike where you can put the hurting on me!

Jeni