So I am sure everyone has seen all the results by now and the fact that we took three different podium spots at a national event. If not here is someone else's perspective:
http://www.mtbracenews.com/view_article.jsp?id=18
So my perspective now! I must start with all the driving! Wow it is a long way down there, and back! I think it was a total of over 30 hrs in the car for the weekend. Now that is way outside Mike's rule of the travel to the race cannot be longer than the time in the saddle!
So race morning. I barely slept going into it cause the rain started at about 2 am that morning and never stopped. The whole night was spent thinking about what tires to run, should I change out my rotors, blah, blah, blah. So when we finally got up at 4am, ate, then headed to the race course, the rain was still coming down but at a little lighter rate and I was tired! With the rain I was not very interested in any type of warm up and just rolled to the line and called that my warm up, hell I have 100 miles to warm up! So I ended up lining up 2nd row and a bunch of riders though it was a good idea to line up to the right of everyone in the parking lot thinking that when they said go it would funnel together?? Not sure the thinking on that but after only one dab during the start I was off and settled in behind Simonson in about 5th spot. At the top of the first road hill he gave it a good go and I stayed glued to his wheel! I think he took Schalk by surprise when he came by him on the downhill leading into the singletrack, Schalk countered and ended up into the singletrack first with Simonson, myself, Christian, Koerber, and Josh in tow. The singletrack was a blast and was actually in better shape after the rain. We flowed well and just kept the momentum going not really drilling it too hard. We did surprise some of the local critters when all the riders went flying past a turtle that decided to hide in his shell in the middle of the trail! I hope he made it!! Just as we were about to come out the other side of the singletrack at the Ocoee White Water Center, Jeff hit a root wrong and went down. I tried to miss it, but with the speed I ended up hitting a root wrong and went down right next to him. I bounced right back up and got onto the group, but Jeff was off the back a bit, so at this time, game on!! Simonson and Tosatado went to the front and kept the pace high! Jeff eventually bridged back up and went right to the front as to punish us for not waiting! So by the time we got out of all the singeltrack the break was set. We ended up loosing Koerber up one of the hills and 5 of us settled in as Tostado kept the pace high at the front of the group. Josh and I ended up stopping at aid #2 to fill water bottles, which we had to do ourselves since we surprised the helpers by coming through so fast. Once mounted back on the bike I went past Josh and Christian toward to the top of the climb and ended up riding solo for the next 65 miles! Not fun, I had no clue how far I was behind or how far in front I was. So I just kept my head down, settled into a pace I could maintain, and went. At this time Simonson and Schalk were off the front together so I knew that I would probably not catch them but kept moving thinking something might happen. At about mile 50 I saw Simonson standing on the side of the course with a flat, suck!! He motioned for me to slow and asked if I had a tube and CO2. I dropped my CO2, but when I went to grab a tube, I noticed I never put one on my bike! Oops, must of missed that with thinking bout the crappy weather that morning!! So now I was in 2nd and just kept my pace. I would attack all the hills cause I knew I could make my best time there and just settled into my best tempo on the flats. At about mile 70, the skies decided to open and just poured on us! A couple too close for comfort lightning strikes as well. Either way I was hoping that they would just send us down the mountain at aid station 6. I asked at both station 5 and station 6 and the answer was the same, enjoy the singletrack in monsoon conditions.
By the time I hit this point I had been riding in the heavy rain for almost 2 hrs and was getting cold. I picked the pace up to stay warm and headed out for the remainder of my epic ride. The singletrack was made more technical with the rivers flowing down it. I kept it smooth and attacked the hills and came out the other side still in 2nd place and no brakes left on the bike. From here it was just 2 miles on a paved trail, over the bridge, and cross the line, for my first ever pro podium!! Sweet!
From the finish line, I headed directly to the river to wash off. I had mud everywhere!
Once in I also learned how well everyone else did! Here are the podium shots!
I must say thanks to all the sponsors. We made it 460 miles as a team and not a single mechanical!!
2 comments:
Is Lisa holding a gun? Again?
Nice job everyone! ^_^
No, I took them away from her for the trip.
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