SalsaMTB - How your race go?

[TrekJeni]

Inquirying minds want to know!

Check your PMs!

Jeni

[SalsaMTB]

Sorry, it has been one busy week!

The race went excellent! Here is my recap...

Days before the race I kept checking the pre-registration to see how many I was competing against in my group (beg. women 19-29). The tally going into the race...a whopping 2! Sort of sad, but at least I was guaranteed a medal. While that is a good thing, I do find it a little sad, why aren't more women racing?

We drove the 2.5 hours to the race the morning of. It was a long morning, we woke at 5am, dropped the dogs off at their grandparents, met at the shop to drive with others from our team and hit the road at 6am. 2.5 hours later we arrived at the race. We completed our registration, DH warmed up and I kissed him off for good luck.

I saw my husband off and began my warm-up. About 10 minutes before the start time, I headed down to line up. This was a time trial, so we went off in numeric order, 15 seconds apart. Standing in line, I noticed there were more women so I thought the number of competitors increased...yeah! One girl from my group was ahead of me, she took off, I waited my 15 seconds and I was off!!

I had a good start, went around the first turn right into a sand pit! Lost control a little, regained and I was off again. All the little kids went ahead of us so the first downhill was backed up with the little ones walking down it. I made my way through, and began the first climb. I was right behind a beginner guy who just stopped in the middle of the climb which caused me to stop. I got off and sprinted past him...didn't want that to happen again!

Shortly after that I passed the girl who started ahead of me. From then on, it was smooth sailing. I felt one with the bike, made all the climbs with ease, the downhills flowed, it was great. On the last downhill, I had a bit too much speed, hit some sand and went over the bars. It didn't hurt much, just frustrating! I got up, grabbed my bike and continued. The final stretch came into view and I sprinted to the end with my teammates cheering me on.

I had to wait about an hour for the results to post....1st place!!!! Woohoo! I was so excited, I got first place by a decent amount. There were only 4 of us total in the class, but I actually beat all beginner women. Talk about a good feeling!

My next race is in 2 weeks and now I'm feeling serious pressure to win. I know I haven't met my toughest competition...but the more I ride, the more prepared I'm feeling!


I could tell all my training over the winter definitely paid off. The trail was much easier than I expected, the climbs weren't so bad, downhill drops went smoothly (which have been playing mental games with me for a while), overall, a great race. I actually got the fasted time for all beginner women!

It was a great experience and has really made me want to ride my bike more! I have another race in 2 weeks which I can't wait for, but now there's a lot of pressure to win again!

To any girls thinking of trying a mountain bike race...do it! It's a great atmosphere and just a great time.

[fatbottomedgurl]

Wow that sounds fun! I had thought about doing Sea Otter in the over 40 group but my car accident stopped that. But I am the competitive type so I think I'll work towards racing someday.

[Steph]

Way to go! That sounds like fun! I was thinking of starting to train for a race in the fall once school is over for the summer and I have more time. Did you just make up your own training program?