The start time for the race was 5 pm--different from what I am used to, but apparently my body was okay with this. We started off with a pretty good group of sport women. I like this series, because it breaks the up the women's sport division into sport and 35+--although we start together we do not compete against each other.
As we took off from the start line some of the gals blasted off the start. I actually started at a reasonable pace and then picked it up--I wanted to take this race at an even pace, so I could ride after and prepare for the PC50 coming up. During the shake out loop, not to my surprise Sally went blazing by, perfect, now I have my carrot to chase.
For the entire first lap I could see her just ahead--which was fine, because my goal was to turn it up on the second lap. By turning is up I mean on the up, because anyone that knows Sally they know she can down--like me her favorite thing is to see if she can go down without using her brakes. I think this may be where a broken hand can be an advantage because you do not want to brake, because it will hurt. Oh, yes did I mention Sally was racing with a broken hand! And apparently it did not affect her mountain biking skills at all, because I never caught her.
During the second lap I turned it up and I kept seeing Sally up ahead. I pushed on the hills and pushed on the downs hoping I could overtake her--no dice. That girl is sooo fast. On the final climb and descent the majority of the pros started to do their passing. This was the one place I was hoping to not run into the pros, there is passing, but it is tight. Thinking I could still see Sally I didn't want to lose much time, so passing without pulling over became tricky. Thank goodness the pros were so skilled. As we went up I would go close to one side of the trail and they would hop over and pass. As a side note, can I just say how amazing it is to watch them climb with such speed it's like I am standing still as they go by. I wonder if it looks the same to them, the me standing still that is.
At the top of the final climb is a straight away, then you go down into some semi rocky switchbacks, then you got to another short straight away and into smooth switchbacks. This is where I wish I could have my do over. Hot after Sally and hoping I could catch her I hit the top of the climb ready to push it hard on the down. I am not sure where, but somewhere on the descent I was overtaken by a pro rider and passed. It had to have been on a straight away, but I am not sure where. What I do remember is following him for just a little bit as we skidded through some of the upper switchbacks. Sometime during that period another rider wanted to pass. We hit a straight away I said pass, but no pass--I took off and we headed downhill. The rider stayed close behind me, and I was surprised. I had passed another rider behind me on the down and left him far behind and thought this rider was him. I couldn't believe the skills the rider was displaying as they had not been present when I had passed him on the downhill before, so this greatly added to my confusion. At this point I began to wonder if the person behind me needed to pass, was I holding them up or were they fine staying behind me. I kept going not quite sure what to do. All of the sudden as I was trying to figure this out. I hear "Kendra I can't pass without taking both of us out you need to find a place" My internal response is "yikes" I am holding this person up. I immediately pulled over so he could pass feeling awful knowing I had held him back. As I pulled over I hooked a tree/bush branch with my handlebars and immediately went over my bike. A few curse words were dropped, I jumped up got on my bike and took off. A little shook up as I went down I lost some of my momentum and smoothness on the down--I hate it when crashes do that to you. I finished, feeling strong and happy with how I did, but with ripped up skin and bruises on my knees and arms.....ugh.
I found Sally and learned she was actually 5 minutes ahead of me!!! I don't know who it was I kept seeing in front of me, but it obvsiously wasn't Sally (or at least some of the time it wasn't). I found the rider and apologized for holding him up. I felt awful, and it wasn't because I knew him or that he was a pro, it was because I held up and rider and I never want to do that. I don't know what I could do to do it over, but I want a do over. I want to let this rider pass, and I want to avoid the crash. I know how frustrating it can be to not pass, as the last two races I have had riders intentionally not let me pass and it held me back from my competition. In my case I continually asked to pass and was refused, in this case I didn't refuse, I basically just messed up.
On a brighter note. I took 2nd place! Very excited about the win and about how I rode.
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