Place finished: 2nd
Women at the race: 13
Feet climbed ~4,000
Miles ridden: 21
Hills walked: 0
Steepest gradient: 27%
Yup! My first 'hilly' race of the year! Didn't realize how much climbing it was ... and after 'playing' (riding the course several times) on the course on Saturday by the time the race was over on Sunday, my legs were feeling the climbing.
So ... This was my first time racing at Fort Ebby ... i've never done this race but heard great things about it. And it did not dissappoint. First of, we took off Friday afternoon ... and didn't work AT ALL again until Monday. Oh, how i love the weekend! I forgot how amazing it was :) We found a little cottage on the island and were in heaven ... you could smell the ocean (in a good way), hear the frogs, and walk to all the restaurants (all 3 of them) and ice-cream shops (all 1 of them) in town! It was a great pace to spend a weekend away from the usual hustle and bustle of life.
Friday night was spent driving and then a quick bite at the local tavern before we crashed. After sleeping for 12 hours, having an amazing breakfast, and touring the town, we headed to 'the fort' for some mountain biking fun. 3 hours and 4,000 ft of climbing later (read: AMAZING VIEWS!) we headed back to our cottage. The weather was perfect racing weather - a cool 10degrees celcious but a hint of sun every now and then :)
The evening was spent eating dinner, soaking in the hottub while listening to frogs, and enjoying a local wine. I know, I know ... you aren't supposed to soak in hot tubs or drink wine, much less do both ... before a race. But i figured it didn't matter since i was racing into shape anyway :)
Sunday morning was another great breakfast and off to the race! A good hour early, i had no idea what to do with myself. I haven't been running from one thing to the next for a while. Warm up? Really! I did a decent warm-up, and then went to the start. it was amazing out! the sun was shining and the air was cool. Unfortunately all i wanted to do was curl up in a ball and sit in the sun like a cat. But I figured i'd get into the race once it started! Why is it that after you take a day or two off you feel more tired? :)
The race had a bit of a hectic start. We were lined up across a field and had about 50 feet to fight for position into the single track. Yeah, not quite my strength. Full on sprinting. i figured i'd try to land somewhere in the middle and see what happened. That is exactly where i landed :)
The first bit was a bit of a mess, as expected, and we weeded out a few less technical riders. This course was fairly technical with lots of wet roots to take you out and steep climbs to throw you off if you were not on your game. Turns out i was pretty on my game. My technical riding was improveing ... project 'race into shape' seems to be successfull :) After about 1/2 a lap (there were 3 laps in total) the field was pretty much sorted out and I was chasing a girl in front of me and hand another just behind me. The girl behind me (Karen, another 24hr soloist) said 'hey, they are catching us, lets go' ... and so i took off. We passed the girl in front of us and never saw any of them again. Well, that was fun! Karen and I traded back and forth for the remainder of lap 1. Part way thru lap 2 i was feeling warmed up and turned it up a notch ... i passed Karen and never saw her again. After that I just kept on pushing ... the legs were feeling the wine, the hot-tub, and the 5,000 ft of climbing from the previous day. But as they tend to do, they kept on turning, and the miles kept on passing. On lap 3 i turned it up again and found another few girls to pass. A lot of women were tiring out ... usually these races are only 1 hour long and this one was 2.5 hours for me. It was good fun! I saw the girl in front of me but could not quite catch her ... she was always just that little bit ahead and when i'd catch her she'd take off. Nice riding :)
All in all it was a fantastic race! Lots of single track, amazing views of the ocean and the olympics, lots of sunshine, and great friends!
It will be a few weeks till the next race ... time to get some longer hours in!
