Dauset Trails SERC

So, after getting hitched in Texas and getting settled back into the daily grind in Chattanooga, updating the blog got a bit behind. For my birthday, I got to travel to Jackson, GA with the rest of the US-Stove team to race the Dauset trails. I remembered the trails being fun a few years ago and that memory was confirmed on the pre-ride. The course is twisty, with little rooty and rocky pitches sandwiched around a dreadful flat section in the middle (although I'm sure my legs needed the recovery of spinning, the flat sections are some of the most challenging on one gear).

After our pre-ride, checking into our hotel and eating our lovely microwaved dinners, my teammates pranced into Catherine, Reid & I's hotel room with a chocolate birthday cake and ice cream. It was very tasty and a very sweet thing for my teammates to do. Then, after a good night's sleep, it was back to the course for the race. I warmed up mostly by myself and then did the tail end of my warm up with a few of the other Cat 2 racers. I'm used to standing around for what feels like forever waiting for our wave to start (we start last in the yellow wave), but somehow we ended up rolling up the the start to hear that we were starting in 30 seconds! Yikes.

So, off we went. It was a hot, humid, typical summertime in the south kind of day and my camel back was full of >100oz of heed and camelback tabs and ice. I loved course, with the exception of the flat section. To start, I was 4th into the woods and stayed on Paige and Heather's wheels until a fork in the trail where you could either take a longer, smoother line to the left or a shorter, rockier line to the right. I opted for the shorter line with mixed results: comically, I merged with the trail just behind Jane, who was in first, and in front of Paige and Heather, but then lost traction and had to unclip and scoot out of the way,

all just to watch 3rd and 4th ride right past me. One of the things I love about racing mtn bikes is that in the heat of the race, anything can happen and even mess-ups like this, although not ideal, are enough to make me laugh during the race.

Through the hilly, twisty sections I was able to make my way past Paige and Heather and work up to getting on Jane's wheel. For what felt like forever, I stayed on Jane's wheel up climbs, but lost her on the flat parts. Very frustrating, but by the beginning of the second lap, I worked hard and got back within speaking distance of her. When we got to a section of double track, I took my chances and went around her with the hopes of pushing hard on the climbs so that I'd lose less time to her and the others on the flats. Right as I started pushing my pace, both my quads started getting that tense, quivery, watch-out-we're-about-to-seize feeling. Being so hot outside, I kept consuming as much of my fluid as I could. I ate a goo halfway and kept drinking hoping to ward off the cramps. Every uphill pitch we got to, the cramp feeling got stronger until every revolution brought a cramp. With much disappointment, I moved out of Jane's way on a steeper pitch and watched her ride away while I half walked/half limped up the trail. I did this a walk/limp up every hill, tried to spin lightly on the flats, kept drinking and kept stretching when I could coast. During this coast-athon, Heather caught me and passed me like I was standing still. Thankfully a few minutes later the cramps subsided and I pushed hard for the last mile or so. I finished in 3rd, empty camelback bladder, and within about 1-1.5min of 1st and 2nd.

So, while not a perfect race, it was a really fun course and I worked my way on to the podium with the Florida girls. My US-Stove teammates Catherine, Emily and Kym also did great-- check out their blogs for updates. I do have to put in a plug here for my new ride: the superfly is still feeling, well, pretty fly. Every time I get to race and ride it, I'm really grateful for everyone who worked to build it and for the team sponsors who make all our clothing, racing and traveling to races possible. As always, many thanks to US-Stove.