My first national mountain bike race debut! After a month (or winter!) of endless Seattle rain and blah, regardless of how the race went, being able to ride in the sunshine (without knee or arm warmers) was already worth the trip. My biggest goal for this race was to be able to ride the whole course - aka not have to walk/run my bike.
Looking for a break as well, my mom joined me in the first part of my California racing adventure. As it took 2 hours to get from LAX to Fontana - thanks to LA traffic - we got a late start in checking out the race venue. So as she took a walk in the sunset, I tried to find what I could of the cross country race course.
Running out of daylight, I found some arrow signs and followed them. Somehow they all kept leading up this insane hill...rockface is probably a more accurate description. I had been warned that the course included a pretty challenging hill, but this was too steep to even qualify! Hoping I had accidently rode the downhill course backwards (wouldn't be my first time), I enjoyed the last of a gorgeous sunset over the hills of LA.
The next day I found out that I had unfortunately ridden the correct course... in the correct direction! So much for my goal of riding everything! After a couple laps on the 5 mile course, I found I liked everything but "the wall." Somehow all the guys riding by me were able to do it. My biggest problem was "the wall" was going to be in the first 5 minutes of the race and a decisive point if I hoped to be in the top 5. I spent the rest of the day and evening agonizing about "the wall" and felt a little comfort in learning that even some of the pro women weren't able to ride it and that anything goes in mountain bike racing ettiquette (I was worried about slowing others up when I got stuck 10 feet into the rock face).
I literally felt like a fish out of water. The terrain was dust, loose sand and rock. Back home it was mud, mud with standing water, and roots (buried in mud/water). At the start line, a couple of the racers recognized me from 'cross and made me feel welcome. There were 7 in my class (cat 1, 19-29 years old) and about 15 total in the Cat 1 feild. It was a start like I've never experienced, each category lined up separated by a volunteer with a sign. Our start was slower than I'm used to (anything's slow compared to a 'cross start), but I just worked my way to second in time for the dreaded "wall." Fortunatly, I am a 'cross racer and a decent runner (compared to cyclists), so once I unable to climb further, I took off running and was able to run as fast as the girl in first was riding! So that was my new strategy for "the wall."
The rest of the race was spent outclimbing the Junior (<18 year old) leader only to be out down-hilled by her on the descents. I felt really good, even when running and I was still loving the sunshine!
As I crossed the finish line, I was announced as "an up-and-coming rider" and managed to win my class and take 3rd overall out of all the Category 1 women. Pretty cool for not even being able to ride the whole course...
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