So … the numbers :) It was a day of threes. I crashed into three trees (yes, three different ones, on three different parts of my body) … I stopped for animals on the trails three times (horses and dogs), I saw three people crash right in front of me, and I came in third!
The course was great … mass starts are always fun and this was no exception. I’ve gotten quite good at positioning myself at the front of the start so I can draft off the fast people J It’s a strategy that serves me well – means all the other girls have to catch me. Well, it was less than a mile in when the first one passed me, charging up the hill like her hair was on fire. She was killing it … I watched her go and thought “wow, either she’s that good or she’s gonna blow”. Yeah, she was that good! She set a new course record and beat most of the men with a 5:15 finish. Amazing!
My strategy for the race was to push the pace as a sort of test for my fitness. My goal was to beat my time from last year (just over 6 hours). The first lap is all about placement and patience. You want to go out fast enough to get ahead of slower people in the singletrack but not so fast that you blow up. For me this is always a struggle as I am pretty good in the singletrack and a slow starter. So there were log-jams and waiting on the first lap but I was mentally ready and took the opportunity to recover, breath, and relax. Then once the fire road came I’d try to pass as many ppl as possible … rinse and repeat and you get lap 1 J Into lap 2 I was mostly on my own and setting my own pace. This is good and bad b/c I can often settle but I was pretty happy with my ability to push. The 2nd girl passed me on lap 2 and I tried to keep her in sight but was having a terrible ride in the technical section (this often happens when I stress about how fast I am going) … and was just all over the place. I pulled it together after a while but she was gone. All I could do at that point was push my pace and focus on myself and my time goal. I finished the race strong, at 5:58, 5 min behind girl #2 and 45 behind girl #1. I felt like I could do another few laps at that pace, which is always promising … and definitely felt like I was in my groove by the end of the race.
About the course … the course was a good mixture of fireroads, technical climbs, flowy fast single-track sections, and tough technical singletrack. Just when you got bored of one, you’d move onto the next … never a dull moment!
I rode my new Phaser for this race and it was awesome – climbs like a goat and descents like a Faze. I love it! It’s a bit more aggressive than the Faze so my upper body takes a bit more of a beating … the different between ‘race bike’ and ‘endurance bike’ J
So all in all, I’m happy with my first real test of the season – my mental energy/sharpness is currently compensating for my lack in fitness. I’ll take it J Lets see if that holds true for 24 hours!
