Saturday, there was a TT that I missed, but a short track that I did not miss. The ST course was a short (imagine that) loop that began from the typical finish line area in the field, went up the hill to the sidewalk behind the pool, around a U-turn at the crest of the hill, took us skittering around an off camber, left then right hand turn around a tree, and finished down the hill to the field. A lap took about 60-80 seconds, depending on who you were and how sapped your legs felt. About 11 people lined up for the first wave (sport men and women). Because not very many folks outside this category had signed up (Kym F was the only cat 1 woman and my husband was the only SS guy), this ended up being the only wave, and Kym ended up hopping into our race so she would not have to do laps alone. We voted to do 15 min + 3 laps, which felt like about 30 minutes to me.
I considered riding my cross bike, but since it's been neglected since cross season ended, it needed more TLC and maintenance than I could give it before the race. So, I rode the superfly with the 32-21 I planned on using for the xc race and it worked out great. As the only person in my category, I worked hard to beat a few guys and to not let Kym lap me more than once. Thanks to Kym having a chain falling off issue that slowed her down a bit, she only lapped me one time, with a graceful, on-your-left pass on the climb.
Kym and I working hard. Photo courtesy of Celeste Sneed.
About 7 laps in, I started to get fatigued and my 75-80 second laps started being more like 85 second laps. Ultimately, I went back and forth with a few guys, logged 15 laps, ie 15 times up that hill, and won my category. I know, I know, it's pretty amazing that I won given that I was the only cat 2 woman, but, I pushed my limits, and I did it. Kym got 3rd overall, but I bet could have won if she had not had a mechanical issue. My support crew of one, otherwise known as Anthony, cheered me on, but opted not to do a short track "race" all by himself. Perhaps next year, the ST will have more participants so I can spectate as well. Results are here. Many thanks to everyone who set up the course- Aaron, Joe, Bill, Ken, Scalla, Mark, Taylor (our team mechanic), Celeste etc.
As for the XC race the next day, Team Angevine brought home the bragging rights of two first place finishes. Since we've never done this before, this is a monumental moment for us as a couple. After a taste of the success, our sights are now set on a national level, dual domination. All joking aside, even though the categories weren't stacked, we both had pretty good races. The SS's started first in the first wave: it was Anthony and one other guy, Micheal Edens, both on rigid 29ers. Obviously, I never saw them until the end of my race, but they both held off the sport riders who started behind them.
My race started with three of us (Stephanie Rynas, Chrysa Malosh and I), but in the nick of time, ended up being a group of four when Marsha Williams booked it to the starting line-- poor girl, I think got stuck in traffic, pulled in, parked, registered and made it to the starting line sans warm up with about 60 seconds to spare. We started up the road and I spun as quickly as I could. I just knew the other girls were going to up-shift and pass me like I was standing still. Once the incline began, I was grateful to feel some resistance with my revolutions and could just barely make out Stephanie and Marsha in my peripheral vision. Dang-- maybe I can beat them into the woods, I thought. Somehow as the hill crested and we turned on the last pavement stretch before the trail entry, I was able to stay in position and be first into the woods. A few minutes later once we hit the field, I saw Marsha and Stephanie enter the field as I was about the re-enter the woods. I put my head down and pedalled. With the exception of seeing a few guys (John Wikle, you were a carrot, thanks for letting me by!), I rode by myself. Every noise my bike made, or creak of a tree limb I thought was surely one of the girls. It was so dry out that I was sliding around a lot and I stopped 4-5 times to squeeze my rear tire to make sure it wasn't flat.
As a side note- prior to the race, I endo'd just riding in the grass when I came upon a rather large hole in the ground, at least 2'w x 1'd, a veritable caldera that gobbled up my front wheel and flung me up and over and down. It was one of those slow motion, comical, no carnage endos. I figured this was my one crash for the day. But no, while trying to eat during the race, I discovered I'm not so good riding with one hand on the bars. I tapped something, lost control, endo'd, but managed to hold onto my snack. Thankfully, no one caught me due to the mishap and I was able to finish without seeing the others until I was done.
Celeste Sneed was there snapping photos and got this one as well as the ST one above:
In the end, Anthony won the SS cat, I finished just ahead of Stephanie R, Marsha W and Chrysa M who took 2nd, 3rd and 4th. My teammates, Kym F and Shannon M, came in 1, 2 in the expert/pro category. Results are here.
