Solitude ICup State Championship

What a great morning for a race--perfect temperature and great course. The race started out going up a road and down single track. I rode downhill fairly tentative--I was being cautious due to my already broken nose. Once I hit the new part of the up hill I settled in to a good pace and rode--my legs felt good. On the downhill I felt great and as I went down I became more confident in my skills and less concerned about falling and hurting my nose.

The second lap I felt good, but I am pretty sure my body was tired. I slipped on a couple of uphill switchbacks, and I was talking with Patty as we rode up the trail--you cannot have conversations when you are at race pace. Since we were in different categories we stayed together without the pressure of losing our positions. As we headed into the down hill Patty let me in first since she felt I would go faster. I was feeling good this time around on the downhill and went much faster than the first time. On the down I passed Hayden on a rocky section and continued to feel confident, and then it happened. Somewhere a rock, a turn or something caused me to fly off my bike. I went down hard, on the left side of my body and hit the left side of my face. Luckily I did not hit my nose--just by it. I quickly jumped up, and let everyone that was around know that I was fine and to not tell my husband. I jumped back on my bike and continued down As I rode I discovered my seat had twisted to the side. Since it was near the end of the course I kept riding and finished with a crooked seat.

At the finish line I was pretty dirty and dusty and the people noticed my arm was ripped up--so much for keeping the crash a secret from my husband, I didn't even notice it, although there was a lot of blood. I was directed over to first aid where they actually took a hose to my arm and legs to get all of the dirt, rocks and blood off me. Once they were done it still wasn't clean enough so I had to go and scrub the dirt out of my wounds in the bathroom. The ladies in the bathroom were less than thrilled to see me grit my teeth and scrub out the blood and dirt. After I was done back to first aid to get bandage upped. Oh, and after all that I ended up in first place.
Sally and me on the podium. Dorthy had to go or she would also be on the podium.
Next Day - Sore and bruised, but anxious to get on my bike.