Sterling

[wavedancer]

This was my 6th race and the first in sub-freezing weather. Temps were in the low 20's when we were starting, but bright sunshine and light winds. It had rained the day before so there was some ice under the grassy slopes and some of the loose leafy areas. It was a fast course, mostly on grass with some cinder roads and pavement, two steep run-ups, one set of double barriers, and one uphill double railroad tie embankment.

So today's race was fun, but I had a really tough time on the run-ups with the ice. And the high barrier was just comical! I wasn't able to pre-ride that part of the course, so when I got up to it with my 28-inch legs, I came to a dead stop and literally had to crawl over it. A concerned spectator wanted to give me a hand to pull me up, but I resisted.

I felt pretty good starting out, but there was as major pile-up at the bottom of the first run-up. I was the last one up with much slipping and sliding. I stayed with some of the pack until the barrier, but after that I was on my own, except for all the people who lapped me. I would try to stay with them as they went by, and managed to catch up to a couple of the gals for a short bit, and pretend I was still in the race.

I also had my first "mechanical." My seat came loose and the nose was pointing up to the sky. I stopped just before the barriers and Brian pushed it back down and then I stopped in the pit and someone helped me get it back in position and tighten it down. I also had one crash around an off camber 180 turn just past the pit. So with all that, why do I think this is so much fun???