5 Mile Pass Race

Today was the 3rd Icup race. It was an 11 mile race that took place about 29 miles west of Lehi, Ut. The race course was mostly double track, with a lot of hills with rocks and churned up sand. It had a fun wash, and of course you had lots of opportunity to pass.

Mandy started her race with the 9 and under at 9 am. She did awesome! The funniest part of the race is when she reached the end at the spaghetti bowl. The hill was somewhat steep going up and down. Instead of riding down, she decided to walk her bike down. However, it was steep and slippery, so she let go of her bike and let it go down without her. I guess if you need to get down that is one way to go. Then she went to the finish line. She would have had 1st place, but a 10 year old girl was allowed to race in the 9 and under. She is doing great and having a lot of fun. I hope she keeps having fun.

Mandy racing towards the finish line.

My race went well. I raced in the 35+ division. I was nervous, more so than the previous race. I warmed up until about 5 minutes before my race started. This was good because my legs stayed warm, and it was not so good because I was at the back of the pack. But it ended up not mattering much, because I got a good start, and pulled up to the front at the very first. The first part goes up a gradual hill, and then does a quick downhill drop with a turn and then back up hill. By the time we got to the downhill it was me and one other racer (Dot from Mad Dog). When we it the downhill I used this to pull ahead, and it worked. Then for a little bit I was in the front. This lasted for a little bit, until I was passed by 2 other riders. I know one was Tasha, but I don't know who the other rider was. We stayed together for a while, until about the 2nd hill climb. I struggled and had to walk this got Dot to pass me, and the others to pull a little bit more away. On the next hill Jolene from utahmountainbiking.com passed we. We were close together until the yellow page hill (hike a bike hill)--that was the last time I saw her. Right after the hike a bike is a single track. Every time I have pre-ridden the single track I had to walk parts of it. Today, I conquered the whole thing. The next part was down hill for a short moment, then a gradual uphill. After a minute I increased my cadence and started to pass people. Then I hit the fun part he downhill and the wash. I love the wash it is fast with some great berms. This time I went a little to fast and ended up crashing in the wash. I was okay, but I slowed probably a little slower than I should have. I was passed by 2 more women in my division. Eventually I made it to the end and in good time. My time was 1:36, not sure of the exact race time yet, but when it comes out I wil update. The cool part was I took 7th (which I am happy about), and I got a prize, because 7 was the lucky number for winning a prize.










At the starting line.














Taking off from the finish line.

I really enjoyed this race, and can't wait for the next one next week.