
We got to the race with plenty of time for me to ride the course. I was so glad. I had watched some videos of last years race so I knew it was flat and fast. I did a warm up lap. When I went through the sandpit, a bunch of sand got in my chain catcher, and that made for a noisy bike.
The course was dry, hardly any mud. A few slight slick spots where I saw one girl go down, but that's about it. Mostly flat with some tight turns, a little bit of singletrack, pavement, gravel, two sand pits, one set of barriers, and long stretches on grass.
The cat 3/4 open women and 3/4 master 35+ lined up, maybe 25 total. Some of the girls are starting to (GASP!) actually speak to me now. We started on a long stretch of pavement going uphill.
The whistle blew and we were off.
The same two girls who always win were GONE. Poof! I stayed middle of the pack and kept telling myself I'd catch them when they got tired on the 3rd lap. Haha! Whatta joke!

I made it through the sand pit and then came around to go through the second one. The sandpit had a tight turn which made it hard to ride. I went down right after this picture was taken. I landed on my right side but got right back up. The only problem - I don't jump on the bike from the right so I looked like a total retard getting back on.

I was chasing that chick in blue the entire race. I caught her on the second lap but on the third lap she passed me back.

I went down a second time but didn't let anyone pass me. I ran with my bike and jumped on and just kept pedaling.

Both chicks in blue passed me about 500 yard from the finish line. I didn't have anything left in me. I didn't even realize when I passed the finish line and I stupidly thought I had to keep going. I went through the sand pit and then this guy says "You're done".
And I said "Oh, did I finish?"
He was like "Yea, you were 6th".


It was a fun course. It was nothing like any of the 3 previous CX courses I raced because it was dry, flat, and there was hardly any running involved. The girl who won cat 3/4 35+ won the race overall and is the state champion.
I gotta a lot to learn about cyclocross.
One last thing. Somehow, I got an invite to be on Team Kenda. It's a huge opportunity. I have been thinking about it a lot. They aren't even taking anymore athletes in for 2010 but the coach offered me a spot. It's a successful team too. What to do, what to do.






