Solitude Race - Icup #9

What a great day for a race. Mandy's race was first today. She had to ride up the paved road and then drop down on the lower section of single track, and had to do this twice. I didn't tell her what to expect. I figured it is better for her to decide whether to ride it or not. She did ride it and did great. She rode down the single track without any problems. Later when I talked to her about the race she told me about the climb and how she did. She said it was tough, but she was able to push all the way up. I asked her what gear she climbed in. She climbed in 2 and 6. She is one tough girl. Maybe next time she will try a lower gear, but I am impressed. Way to crank it out. Mandy ended up taking 7th overall in the 9 and under division an 2nd out of the girls.

Mandy carving up the single track.

Mandy rides the course like a pro.

Mandy creates an easier path on the singletrack.

A tired racer after a long day of racing, cheering and playing.

A challenging course and great weather made for a fun race. There were not very women in my category today. The holiday seemed to have kept a lot of racers away. There were some of the regulars, Sally (UMB), Dot (Mad Dog) and then a new gal who moved over from the sport division Lisa (no team). The first of the race course starts with a 1.7 mile climb. It is not too bad of a climb. You climb for a bit and then have about a 5 second break and then you continue climbing for a good bit before you have a 10 second downhill and then it is the final climb on the pavement. At the top of the climb you go straight and slightly downhill for a bit before you drop on the singletrack. I did pretty well on the climb. I started out with Dot and then gradually she pulled away. I kept her in my sights instead of trying to keep up with her, I wanted to make sure I could make it through the singletrack climb and I wanted to keep my lungs intact. I felt as long as I could see her it would be good. So I climbed and saw her all the way up to the crest. During this time Lisa also passed me, and then I passed her back at the crest, pulled away and then she got me near the end of the straight away and was able to drop onto the single track right before me. Once again I was not too worried, because I felt prepared for the singletrack climb.

My first drop onto the downhill singletrack started with skidding and almost wiping out due to loose dirt conditions. Most of the downhill was very loose and slippery, and of course there was the reminder of my 2.5 endos two days earlier. So, as I was going down I kept thinking smooth and easy. This allowed me to go a good speed without loosing control. I could see my competitors down the hill, so I felt pretty good. I had a bit of a struggle on the uphill single track, but not near as many as my pre-ride. I kept telling myself if I am struggling so are the others, and I was right. Sure enough I passed Lisa, and eventually saw Dot again. I kept plugging away carefully. I knew if I went too fast I might loose it and I wanted to be able to keep going strong. Near the end of the single track climb I started to push and continued to push up the pavement. I put a good distance on me and Lisa and was hopeful for second (by this time I had lost sight of Dot for good). I dropped carefully onto the dh singletrack this time with no skidding or losing control. I felt good and started to put on the speed. No sooner did I do this than on the next turn I skidded out and ended up in the dirt. I quickly got up and started to go and then saw my chain had dropped. I got off put my chain on and took off. Still no one in sight. This time I went slower to avoid any more wipeouts--probably too slow and cautious. I went down and was going well when all of the sudden I heard "pass" I told her no. She said it was too slow, and I told her I would wipe out if I stopped. We kept going and then the track had a minor split where there was an easy route and a loose, rock route. She took the rock route, I took the grass route and she passed me. This was very demoralizing. I kept going downhill and luckily did not have any more accidents. I took third and came in 20 seconds after Lisa. Dot took first and beat me by 6 minutes. She must have really burned it out, because I saw her on some of serenity. She had a very impressive ride.

At first I was only okay about taking 3rd, mostly because I got passed on the downhill, and I want so badly to do better on downhill. However once I got home I realized I did a dang good job. This was a tough, technical course on less than optimal conditions. I watched the pro, expert and sport racers all skid in the same places I did. Granted they handled their bikes better, but they had the same struggles I did and had to slow down as the rode downhill. This made me feel better. And then I also realized that Lisa has been racing sport. She came over to 35+ which is now for her only doing half a race, and I held against her really darn well. With that said I am way excited about my 3rd place.

On a side note, one thing that really helped me this race was taking a caffine pill. This was to see if I could avoid having an asthma attack, and for the most part it worked. I paced myself, however normally I would have had an attack on the climb and I did not. I did have a mild one near the end of the singletrack hill climb, but it was mild and quickly became controllable. I am excited about this, because there is nothing better than being able to get air into your lungs while riding.

Racing up the hill against Dot. She is pushing it out.Notice I have the brakes on. This is near the place where I had 1.5 endos. Finishing the last part of the rock garden.Concentrating on the downhill portion of the course.I'm a blur on the downhill I'm going so fast.I missed podium and so did Dot. We were up riding the hill. So Mandy sat in for me and Joey sat in for Dot.Talking about the race and our results.After race festivities, good food and friends.More fun times waiting for awards.