The numbers: Place finished: 3rd
Feet of climbing: 5400ft
Miles: ~26 (20 miles of single track, 6 of double-track)
Time to finish: 2:36
The lead up:
It's been a hectic week. Fraser's sister arrived late Wednesday night and left early Thursday AM (she was over-nighting on her way to the Seattle airport), reviews were due at work this week, and of course there was the usual life and work stuff going on.
There is no better way to get through a week like that than to look forward to a day of bike racing on Saturday. We had never been to Leavenworth but heard the riding was fantastic and the town was pretty cool. We were not disappointed.
We had to drive through a pass to get to the race venue and there was still snow on the ground! It was rainy when we left and pouring over the pass. We thought we might be in for a wet and cold race ... but in true Washington tradition, over the other side of the pass the sun was shining and it was hot and dry.
Race warm up consisted of riding up the hill to find a place to feed Fraser, sitting in the shade and pretending to stretch, feeding Fraser, and doing a 15min spin before my race start. I was almost to the start when I heard the loud speaker doing the count-down: 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 - GO! My heart raced and i put down the hammer - I thought I was late for my start! But alas it was the men and i made it just in time. Phew. A few moments to calm my heart rate and it was our count-down for real.
The race:
There were 11 women in total in the open/expert category and the race got off to a good start. I took full advantage of the 2 minutes where my legs have no idea what is going on and I can go really fast. I put some distance on the other girls but was quickly caught when i settled into my pace. Two girls passed me fairly early in the climb.
This is a good time to talk about the course ... the course was 8.6 miles long and consisted of 1800feet of climbing per lap. It was straight up and straight down. Not having ridden the course previous to the race it felt like the climbing went on forever. It was 4.6 miles and 1800 feet, with no breaks. Once in a while I'd think it was flat, shift up a few gears, look down at my garmin and realize that it was 7%. Ha. Flat. It's all relative ... The climb started out on a road but after about a mile it went into the single-track and up and over the mountain. The decent was fast and furious. There were 3 creek crossings and many many 'whoop-de-doos' that you launched off of without even trying. It was sooo fun. the first descent was a little tentative but the 2nd and 3rd laps i was flying.
I kept the girls that passed me in sight until we hit the single track and then they dropped me. I kept on climbing but never saw them again. The race was pretty uneventful - I was on my own most of the time and having fun conversations in my head. They went something like this ... Brain: ok legs, its time to pick up the pace Legs: I just don't have it today Brain: too bad, do it anyway Legs: no Brain: ok, then i will just shift into a harder gear and you will have to work harder Legs: (about 1 minute later) that wasn't very nice
And on it went ... my legs felt empty, the just didn't have it today. I've been increasing my veggie intake lately and it seems that perhaps I need to bump my carb intake back up a little more. That or get more decent sleeps leading up to a race :)
The other fun part of the race was the 'Go Norco' cheers and the comments about my bike. I had at least 6 people yell 'Nice Bike' as I rode by.
All in all it was a great effort and I was happy with my 3rd place finish. Tomorrow will be another great day in the saddle with a 4-6 hour ride at Tiger!
Off to catch up on sleep .... oh, and eat more carbs! :)
Monilee
