Today I'm going to write two race reports. Last year with the migraines and dizziness, I was lucky to write two race reports in a season, so it feels kind of nice to do two in a couple of weeks.
The first race report I have is from Jingle CX. Because of varied health issues, I haven't been able to race Jingle CX for the last four years. It was great to be able to race it again and now they even have a 45+ Master's Women's Race and I ALWAYS want to support that.
Anyway, I only raced the Friday of Jingle CX and it was a rainy, muddy mess. Which I normally love. I did a really good job of warming up before the race. At one point while I was on the bike trainer, a woman in the tent next to ours, said, "Wow. Are you really reading a book on your trainer?" I told her I was a nerd and I read almost anywhere I can. She said she thought it was great. She was a big reader too and was happy to see someone else nerding-out at a bike race.
The race itself started out great. I had a good start and I never have a good start. I always say I like the muddy races because the other women have to go a lot slower, and I ride pretty well in the mud. The only problem came when I had to run up the first big, muddy, hill. I use flat pedals on my bike and the shoes I wore with them had NO traction, whereas my mountain bike shoes that I would wear with clipless pedals had great traction AND you can put metal spikes on the top part of the shoe.
Soooo, I had this great start, I was feeling confident, and I get to the first big muddy hill and try to get up it and keep falling. Doh! I finally had to crawl up it on my hands and knees. I know, so graceful, so pretty...Or not.
At one point, one of the women who was a ways behind me originally, ran past me while I was moving with all the grace and style of a walrus and said, "They're called, toe spikes. Christmas is coming. You might want to ask Santa for some."
"Whatever!" I thought loudly at her back as she nimbly ran up the muddy hill with her godamn toe spikes.
I finally made it up the damn hill and did okay riding down the crazy descent right after. I even caught the snotty woman who told me to get toe spikes, but then when we hit the next muddy hill, she passed me right back. There was one off-camber muddy downhill that a few years ago, I wouldn't have been able to ride, but I rode every lap on this race. At one point going down it, I lost all control over my bike, but I couldn't break because I would crash for sure. I just had to let the bike take me where it wanted and hope that it didn't want to crash me down the hill. Luckily, it didn't.
After the first lap, I figured out that I should go to the very right hand side of the muddy hills and grab the fencing on one side and use my bike on the other side of me for support in order to get up them. It wasn't the fastest way, but it was way quicker than going up the middle on my hands and knees.
You'll be happy to know I finally passed and stayed ahead of snotty toe spike lady to get 6th place. Not bad for letting most of the field pass me up that stupid hill on my first lap. Yea me!
I was happy with my result even with my mishaps.
The next race I want to write about was two weeks ago. It was called the Rack Run and it was a way to make money for women with breast cancer who can't afford to pay their bills. A cause I can really get behind.
Stinky asked me to race it with her. A few years ago, she started gaining more weight than she was comfortable with, so she's been working hard at losing it now. She's lost 20 lbs since her wedding by running more often and trying to eat better. Go Stinky!
Anyway, when we race together I just go at her pace and try to help her stay positive when she starts to get tired and cranky. Lately, she's getting so strong that I worry I won't be able to keep up with her. During this race, we were going at a decent pace and I knew what her best time out of her past races was and when it looked like we might beat that time, I tried to pick up the pace. Then when we could see the finish line, she started sprinting. I thought, "great!" and sprinted too, thinking we could cross the finish line together.
I moved to her right, and she cut me off. I figured she didn't see me and so I moved to her left, where she cut me off again. That little Stinker, she was doing it on purpose. So, I stayed just behind her and I finished a second after her. She said she just wanted to beat me, and nobody understands competitiveness better than I do. You'll all be happy to know that besides beating me, she also beat her fastest time and got first in her age group. Competitiveness can really pay off.
Most importantly, we had a great morning running around Sand Lake and then we went to Midtown Family Restaurant for breakfast, where I got pancakes and chocolate milk. Yea us!
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