Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Fontana 2011: 3rd x 2

The entire US-Stove/Vantaggio team attended the SERC finale with good results all around. I had not done the Fontana course since 2008 and wasn't sure what to expect. The pre-ride confirmed that my legs felt emptier than I wanted them to feel, but the course itself was a nice loop with technical descents and only a few sections I'd have to hoof it through.

The night before the XC race was filled with dinner, beer and spectating the short track race. The US-Stove ladies Anina, Catherine and Shannon comprised the women's field and did great. I got to enjoy watching my husband as well--- despite approaching the short track race with much trepidation and dread, he was in the top 3 for the first 2-3 laps, on his Traitor ss cross bike. After a crash, his front brake remained snugly engaged, and he rode at least 5 laps with that brake on, before he was finally able to disengage the cable and ride front-brake free. Who needs a front brake anyway? Next year he'll redeem himself with a mechanical-issue-free race.

The morning of the race had me feeling horrible. All I had to do was finish the race and I'd secure my 3rd overall place in the sport category. Despite that, I wanted to do well and felt depleted on my warm up ride. At the line when we got to vote whether to do 2 or 3 laps, as much as I usually think voting down the course is somewhat lame, I couldn't resist voting for 2. By one vote, the 2 lap paradigm won. The start went up a steep paved road that I heard was about 300 feet of climbing. Everyone took off in front of me and I thought, oh well, here goes a painful race. I stood up, got into a steady rhythm and within a short distance, was surprised and happy to be passing people. By the top of the hill, I entered the woods in 2nd behind this fast TVB racer, Kaysee, (who rumor had it was doing her first xc race). Once on the singletrack, I never could get her in sight. By the time I got to the steep gravel road climb and had to hop off and walk up, I was caught by Shannon A of the Cycle De Oro team. Work as I might to keep her in sight, she also disappeared. Through the second lap, I kept spying Tiffany B out of the corner of my eye, so I kept pushing up the climbs and tried to be careful on the descents. Near the dreaded gravel road climb, my mind started wandering and I began to wonder if maybe I'd made a mistake-- did we vote for 2 or for 3 laps? Crap. How many laps do I have left? How could I be so uncertain? How ironic, here I am happy to be on my last lap, when maybe I heard the official wrong and maybe we are doing 3 laps...

Thankfully, I ran into Jane H's husband Dan and was able to ask him. He probably thought I was losing it, but I was very grateful for his input and confirmation that indeed, we did only have to do 2 laps. My legs and lungs, despite feeling blase at the start, stayed in a steady pace through the second lap. The descent down the turkey chute was like a roller coaster and when I hit the pavement leading to the finish line, I was all smiles. I ran into Star who confirmed there was no one right behind me. For the second and final time, I pedaled past the greatest support crew ever, aka the US-Stove posse of husbands, Anthony, Bryan and John, and somehow made it up the hill and did not crash going over the curb at the finish line.

All in all, I finished 3rd in the race and 3rd overall. My bike felt great thanks to Taylor K at the trek store. My teammates all finished really well in the expert category. The Berger family put on another great series. Pictures will be posted soon. Cross season here I come.

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