Booker T Race March 13, 2011

What a race. First of all, thanks to Celeste Sneed for the photo. Although I've done things like Snake and Big Frog, this was my first cross country cat 2 race on my singlespeed and I really wasn't sure what to expect. My main thought for the season is, how hard will it be to keep up with the girls with gears? Because of fantastic changes with my work, this will be my first season in a long time that I have more time to devote to training. Given that, I'm really looking forward to the challenge of racing the singlespeed with the sport/cat 2 women in SERC and some TBRA races.

Booker T is a local place for me, but there were some newly added sections of trail incorporated into the race course, making it about 6.8+miles per lap and our category did three laps. My wave started behind the other cat 2 guys, cyldesdales, masters and the singlespeeders. One of my goals in the distant future is to get in shape enough to race in the SS category with the guys, like Carey Lowery did (go Carey!!). It turns out there were only three of us in the cat 2 women's race, Krissa-somebody, Lindsey-somebody and myself. The three of us had a chance to meet and chat before the race and both were very nice-- Lindsey had her cute daughter in her cheering section at the start and Krissa was seeing the trails for the first time after a drive in from Nashville. The race started at the docks, went up a paved climb and then turned into the woods for a short section that looped you around to the grassy field where the finish was. Here we got the pleasure of zig zagging around muddy U turns and splashing through at least four big puddles before passing the finish line where the actual, full lap began. I've never seen Booker T in a wet or muddy state, so starting the lap with wet feet was a first.

Throughout the lap, there were newer trail sections intermingled with the more established ones. The newer ones were softer and had the challenge of twigs, bushes and vines leaning out into the trailspace. It was tough pushing the pedals on the newer sections and I definitely felt like I was going in slow motion. In general the course is twisty and rolling with roots and some sparse patches of loose gravel as the main terrain obstacles and has a few gradual climbs. This time around though, the recent rains left their mark. Puddles and muddy spots are unusual at these trails, but there were several wetter areas that took some maneuvering and finesse to get through unscathed. I pushed hard at the start and on the first lap in general. I could see Lindsey and Krissa behind me when I started the first lap, but wasn't sure how close they were, so I rode like I was being chased. I ran into John Wikle and Matt Scalla, who were both working hard, into Celeste Sneed who was snapping photos (she took the photo that's above-- thanks, Celeste) and into Barry Smith, who was peacefully sweeping. Laps two and three were hard efforts that made me realize the room for stamina-improvement. There's a short, and not really steep, gravel road climb in the last 1.5 miles where I found myself turning a comically slow cadence and thinking-- really? I'm working this hard to go this slow up a hill at booker T?? By the time I hit the grassy puddle field for the last time I was relieved the other girls didn't catch me and was ecstatic to be finished.

After my race, I got to see just how muddy everyone else looked. One poor guy walked his bike in with a taco'd front wheel. I'm definitely thankful for not having any mechanical issues or major bike/trail collisions. The other Vantaggio racer out there was Shannon Mathis who was the only Cat 1 woman racing-- needless to say, she crushed her field and took home the win.

Ken Radley, the Scenic City Multisport folks and the volunteers did a great job marking the course and making it possible for everyone to have an intense day of racing. Celeste Sneed posted her pictures here: Celeste's Booker T pics.