The warm up: Warming up was challenging but I had my dandy water proof cycling pants and jacket and was determined to wear them until I absolutely had to take them off. I found some cool bike trails close by and wondered around them for a while - it took at 15 min for my core to feel 'warm'. Brrrr. After that I wondered back to the race venue. I wasn't seeing any riders and that made me nervous. I asked around and found out that you can ride the course as long as you get off the trail when you see/hear racers behind you. How cool! I hoped on the course and rode the last mile or so ... very soupy. I was glad I had my mud tires! Finished the lap and headed back to the car. More lube for the chain and time to ditch the waterproof gear and head up to the start.
The race: There were around 6 women in my category and the race started with a big countdown. 10 seconds of bliss where my legs don't get it and I am at the head of the pack ... 10 seconds later I am dead last. I passed two girls on the first descent going mock2 (ok, that is a slight exageration - but it felt like mock2) and caught up to another one. I liked her pace and decided to keep her in sight and see what happened. Somewhere on lap2 I was sure I was going to puke. I wasn't used to going this fast and my breakfast, eaten 4 hours prior to the race, seemed to be threatening a re-appearance. I kept going as hard as I could, telling myself that I hadn't puked yet and I should keep going until I did. I never did.
I kept the girl in from of me in sight for the first 3 laps (there were 6 laps in total - about 20 miles). Every time I got ready to pass I'd yell 'on your left' and she'd pick up the pace. It was pretty amusing and I was happy to have someone to push me. On the forth lap though she was starting to slow and I attempted to pass several times - each time she'd put on the gas and I wasn't able to make a pass. Through the start/finish area I was right on her wheel. I let her pull me for about 10ft and then i put the hammer down and blew by her. My strategy was to pass so fast that she wouldn't be able to draft. It worked. I didn't look back, my legs were burning and I was determined to put as much distance between us as possible. i knew i only had 2 laps left - and they were taking about 20 min each. It was time to hammer. The last two laps were bouts of pain and glee as i hammered up the hills and then flew down the other side. The downhills were fast and furious - I found out that I am pretty comfortable going very fast down wet muddy hills.
I was on my own for the last 2 laps and was picking up time. I finished in 2 hours and 6 minutes, 6 minutes behind the leader and 5 min behind 2nd place. Not awesome, but not too bad. Oh, and I put a good 10min on the 4th place girl. My lap times went something like this:
- 19 min (shorter 1st lap)
- 22 min
- 23 min
- 23 min
- 21 min
- 20 min
Yeah, so can you tell that I wasn't quite warmed up? I am happy with my effort though. It was a solid ride.
Thanks again to my sponsors at Norco Bikes and Samammish Valley Cycle who provide me with great bikes and gear! I couldn't do it without you!
All in all, a great day playing in the mud! Welcome to the 2009 race season!!!
