Winter Park Race #2 Cross Country

After three years of longing to be a part of this series I finally competed in my first Winter Park race. I can’t say it was what I expected, or wished for. I didn’t seem to have much going for me, and was struggling before we even took off from the start. I have been dealing with a severe cough for over two weeks now, that brought on evil headaches and massive lethargy. My doctor Carol said there was a good chance it was pneumonia, told me to take it easy and take lots of Robitussin DM until I could go to my real doctor on Monday. I really didn’t want to miss out on the race, so I downed lots of Ibuprofen and Robitussin, tried to rest as much as I could, and my goal was just to survive the race.

I got to meet up with Scott, Melissa, Brett, Chris, Marni and Cori before the start, so we all wished each other good luck before we headed off. After Chris’s epic ride, he decided to skip this race, and I don’t blame him! He turned into our cheering section and photographer. It was nice because he was at every intersection we came to, so we had a constant cheerleader.

Marni and I lined up together at the start, and headed up the first climb a little after 10:30. I felt like crap from the start. I pre-rode part of the course on Saturday and felt a lot better than I did when I started the race, which wasn’t a good feeling. The climb seemed steeper and longer than the day before, and I wasn’t really able to push taller gears without getting too worn out. There were a few times in that first mile or so that I was about to bag the race and head back down. I didn’t think I was going to survive. I think one of my problems is that my back tire didn’t have enough air pressure in it. I didn’t want to stop to fill it, thinking that would make things worse, not better. So I trudged on, and we finally made it to the single track descent. I used to think I was a decent climber, but now I think I am better at the down hills. I was able to catch quite a few girls in that first down hill, and I was proud that I was able to pass on such loose terrain.

As soon as the uphill started again, the lack of energy came back. I only got passed by one girl on this climb, but I could tell the others were gaining ground fast. I didn’t want to burn out, but I knew I had to push harder if I wanted to stay ahead. When the trail leveled out in between climbs I tried to push a little more to gain ground before the next uphill. Unfortunately as soon as the uphill started and I went to shift down, my chain experienced major chain suck. It was really bad and took a good 5+ minutes to get it out. I got passed by a lot of girls at this point. That didn’t really help my mood. I continued to have problems with my chain the rest of the race, it fell off at least 3 more times, and it argued with me every time I tried to shift into my middle ring.

I think adrenaline from being so frustrated kicked in, because I ended up catching I think all the girls that passed me when I was stopped. The single track then turned into a long dirt road, that I also found frustrating because there were so many small bumps that I couldn’t get a good speed going and I felt I was wasting more energy. Not too long after the road looped back around I got passed by two girls who were drafting each other. So I tagged along for a while, gaining some energy back. It help tremendously, I ended up passing them pretty quick and stayed ahead of them for quite a while. Soon I came upon Cori who was looking really good, so we cheered each other on, and I continued on. There was another girl that had caught up and we were riding neck and neck. I knew it was going to drop into single track soon, and I knew I needed to beat her to it. I did, and had a fun blast down the hill, and through the river. It was very refreshing! Especially since I knew what was coming next…

Lots of uphill. I paced myself, I knew I would be climbing for a long time and again I didn’t want to burn out, I was still struggling with lack of energy. Cori caught back up, but not for long before I heard a bad shift and curse words come out of his mouth as he stopped. I thought his chain probably fell off, since mine did not too far from where he was. I didn’t think he needed help, so I didn’t stop. Another girl caught up to me and told me that he had actually broken his chain. Total bummer, and I wished I could have helped him, but there is nothing I could have done except be there for moral support. The girl was cruising pretty good up the trail, and soon another one caught up and took to her back wheel. I warned them that it went up for a very long time, but they said it was not bad at all, and kept going. I wasn’t bothered, I was pretty sure I would catch them later. Around this point a lot of the beginner guys started catching up, and I was starting to get worried that Scott would catch me soon! I tried to not let that get to me and just kept pedaling. Funny thing is, I think I passed every guy back. They burnt themselves out really fast. I am glad I pre-rode this part…

I did end up catching one of the girls on the dirt road, but she didn’t seem to like that because she pushed hard to get back ahead of me. Not a good move. I passed her again on the single track, I think she was throwing up. I never saw her again. I passed a few more guys on this single track, according to my pre ride this was one of the last climbs before the downhill started. We came out of the single track and had to head up a dirt hill to where Long trail starts the descent. I saw the other girl who passed me earlier in front of me, and knew, again, I had to get in front of her before the downhill started. So I pushed really hard, and made it to the single track before her. Really fun descent. I got stuck behind a slow guy for a while, but was eventually able to pass him. I was cruising, thinking just one more short uphill, my computer was reading over 16 miles at this point, so I thought I was home free…

Yeah right. I get down to the dirt road again, where the day before I went right and down, but now they made us go left, and up. And up… I had spent everything on the last climb that I was hurting. Wait a minute… they said the course was 16.1 miles… my computer is well over 17 at this point and we are still going up, really high on the mountain… Not too cool. I was hating life, but I had gone this far I had to push through and finish. So I kept pedaling up the hill, and finally more single track downhill came. I was tired, my cough was getting to me, I hadn’t eaten anything in almost an hour because I though we were about done, so this downhill was a bit sketchy. It had fairly tight switchbacks and was loose dirt. I had about 4 guys on my butt, but I think we were all going the same speed, the guy behind me was actually saying that I was making him go faster, so none of them passed me. I also did not ride any of this section the day before, so all new terrain for me. Luckily the guy behind me did, so he warned me when there was a tight switchback coming. I did good on most of them, until I tried to make one to the left but didn’t cut it tight enough, and there was a tree that I couldn’t avoid. My bike skid off the trail and smashed into the tree. All four guys behind me had to slam on their breaks to avoid a pileup, since my bike landed across the trail. My right foot was still stuck in the clip, so I tried to move my bike off the trail with that foot to let the guys pass. They were all really nice, making sure I was ok before they took off.

I wasn’t really that shook up, I just wanted to get down! I came to the last intersection and saw Chris again. I told him about meeting the tree, and continued on. The last section of downhill was very loose, with tight switchbacks and lots of rocks and roots. Being so short on energy, it was very difficult. I crossed the dirt road one last time, with another cheer from Chris, and finally made it to the road where I was cheered on by good friends. I pushed as hard as I could to the finish, which unfortunately didn’t turn out to be so hard because my chain was acting up again, but I was finally finished. I had a nice cough attack that had been waiting to come out all race, and then I stayed by the finish to watch Marni, Scott and Melissa finish. They all looked great crossing the finish. We hung out for a while to watch the awards ceremony. Somehow, after all I went through, I came out in 3^rd place. And, both of the girls that I was leapfrogging most of the race weren’t even in my category! Overall a fun course, I wish they would have been more accurate on the distance, but it was so great to finally be apart of this series. Congrats to Shawn for pulling in 3^rd in Expert, both Mel and Marni getting 4^th, Scott and Brett for putting in great times, Cori for his efforts to stay in the race after everything he went through, and then dealing with everything he went through to try to get back to his car, and thanks to Chris for being the cheerleader and photographer. Can’t wait to race with you all in a few weeks! I am now hoping I feel better enough for the Firecracker 50 on Friday…