Snowbird Icup Race

The morning of the race started out a bit sluggish. For those of you who do not know, I play on four softball teams. Right now we are in tournament. Three of the teams I am on are very competitive and we usually place in the top two of our division, one of the teams is a family team and we are not the best, but not the worst. Last night was the family team tournament. We played at 7 pm and if we won we kept playing until we lost. I was not worried about playing all night due to our past games, so I did not get a sub for the night, instead I showed up to play. Well you guessed it we played all night. By the time we finished I had pulled lmy eg muscle and did not get home until 10:30 pm, which meant I did not get to bed until 11:30 pm. By the time I got up, drove to Snowbird and got to the start line I was feeling very tired and unmotivated to race.

It seems being unmotivated to race only plays a small part in how I ride. As we worked our way up the line to the start I started to get the nervous, anticipation feeling. My competitiveness was starting to kick in. At the start line it was the normal joking and then it was down to business. As we started I took off. I could feel the hang over from playing the night before, but that was okay I still was going to pull to the front, and I did. Mentally I was not completely up for this, but apparently I have a stronger drive than I realize.

I ended up at the front of the pack, but Jolene was right there with me. I could hear her as we rounded corners, and by this I mean we actually were talking about the race and the course. We pulled over together twice to let a couple of young riders pass, we talked about the course and how we did not like a turn, we discussed whether I was going fast enough or not--I decided I was, especially because I knew we had another lap to do. We talked back and forth throughout the entire first lap and stayed together the whole time. We had more than one spectator comment that we should be racing not socializing, and apparently Royce felt the same way. I disagree it was nice to have someone close that first lap.

The second lap was a little bit different. This lap we were not as close, but we were still pretty close. We rode fairly close together throughout the first of the single track and then we came to the new section of trail. I kept pretty steady through here and then when I hit the switchbacks I finally got into race mode and decided to turn up the pace a bit. This turned out to be a necessity for later in the race.

Going up the switchbacks I could see Jolene behind me instead of hear her behind. At the top of the hill I hit the dreaded gravel road. My first time down this hill Jolene caught me and stayed right behind me, the second time down I rode it much better and did not see her the entire time, although I knew she was close behind. By the time I got to the bottom under the chairlift/tram I saw Jolene closing the gap. Once again I picked up the pace a bit as I climbed the road to the single track. It was about this time I heard wheels coming up speedily behind me. If Jolene was going that fast I would be happy to let her pass me. It turned out to be a young boy going through some voice changes--he sounded a lot like her, I sure hope it changes for the better.



Heading down the single track to the finish all I could think was don't screw this up, and of course about the time I thought this I screwed it up. There is a large bridge you go over and then you go to a little up hill that has some rocks you need to clear. I have never struggled to get over these rocks, but this time I lost traction and ended up off my bike. I was sure Jolene was going to get me right there and pass me. Lucky for me she did not, but she sure did get close. Glad I had put a little bit of distance between us.

I continued along and kept pushing hoping to increase the distance between us. I know how good Jolene is at sprinting at the end and I really did not want to have to sprint against her. I ended up on the road to the finish first and pushed it up the road. I crossed the finish line and just stayed there exhausted from the last little push. Jolene crossed 15 seconds later. We both hung on our bikes for a moment, gave our congrats' and moved on. I then took off to meet Mandy.



A final note. Apparently Ed has forgotten the 35+ division and the sport women division. We stood in the rain patiently waiting for him to call our division and names. After a bit we realized he was talking and it appeared podium was over. We had to get his attention and sure enough he had forgotten us. So we have now gone from getting our awards last, to being totally forgotten. Ed, I think you owe us and we need to be called first for the rest of the year at awards. ;-)
Racers lining up to the start. Having fun at the finish line before we start to race. Congrats and exhaustion at the finish line.
The forgotten podium in the rain. Mandy's Race

I would venture to say Mandy did not have fun at this race, and I guess I can't blame her if I was in her shoes. She is a funny little girl, she loves to go to the races, but struggles doing physical activity during the week. Today's race though I think she started with less than a happy face.

Mandy at the start line.

I dare say she got off to a good start, but this course is hard and the majority of it is climbing. On my second lap I saw Mandy on the new cut trail walking her bike just coming out of the trees. I gave her advice for the downhill and then did not see her again until after I had finished.

Starting off good.

After my finish I went and met Mandy. She was coming up the hill from under the chair lift/tram. Needless to say I did not come upon a happy campier. She is very discouraged about always being in last, and walking her bike so much. As we walked and sometimes rode the last part of the trail Mandy vented and let me know exactly how she felt about today's race.

She was very mad I did not tell her how hard the trail was. I should have told her it was mostly uphill and not very fun. She thought the down hill was not fun and boring on the road, and the other part was hard because of the rocks. She did not like the down hill at all. She was mad I had wasted her day, because she could have done better things with her time. When we got to the road and I was riding by her towards the finish, she asked me to go ahead because she was embarrassed to ride with me. I went ahead and she ended up eventually riding through the finish.

I had her stay for podium and as you can see there is a very unhappy face. Eventually the unhappy face disappeared with recovery of a Big Mac, fries and a drink. Well deserved after all she went through.

I struggle with having Mandy race. She likes the races and at the same time she hates them. She gets very discouraged coming in last and talks about what a horrible rider is. I worry because I don't want this to have a negative affect on her. I get her to ride her bike but not often enough--not from lack of trying. Yet she loves to ride when she does, loves going down hill and of course hates going up. The race courses are hard and she isn't skilled enough yet for them. So what does a mom do? She likes it, she doesn't? She has fun, she doesn't? Does she keep racing or does she stop?
The 12- under podium group.

Cold, tired and ready to go home.