Once again, I’m writing this as the next stage is within an
hour of starting.
Yesterday’s stage was a little nerve-racking. The time trial
was setup so that the fastest people started in the back. And while I tried to
avoid looking over my shoulder in anticipation of the men’s pro-field possibly
running me over, I found myself looking backwards more than I should have.
Jeremiah Bishop passed me in an early section of singletrack, and it was fun
trying to keep up with him for the brief few seconds I could still see
him.
About 1 minute to go photo thanks to Gary Hoenhe |
The course started out right at base camp and headed
immediately to tight twisty singletrack before going to a trail along a stream
that had quite a bit of mud and exposed slippery roots on it. That was pretty much it for the mud though.
From there, we were on a road for an exposed climb (whose idea was it for those
black kits anyhow??).
That first road section was a good indicator of how I would
feel for much of the TT – hot and on the verge of exploding.
There were some very cool sections of trail that stood out
to me. One was just after a road section, and as soon as I got to it, I
recalled Mike Wissell’s pre-race ‘pep-talk’ about the downhill that was so
steep that brakes would be completely useless. The look of fear on my face as I
went screaming down that must have been priceless.
One of my favorite sections of trail was the enduro segment.
It had a long, long rocky downhill followed by a big tractor tire feature, some
pump track dirt mounds, and some really swoopy berms. Of course, stopping
during the race to swipe in and out was a little weird, but after I watched
almost the entire women’s field make their way past me while I was trying not
to explode on the road, I decided that I would make sure to stop and swipe at
every damn enduro segment.
This is summer camp, dammit, and participation is mandatory
(at least for me it is).
Towards the end of the course, there was an ‘east coast
rocks’ segment. I expected some pretty serious rock gardens because the rocks
on the enduro segment were pretty gnarly.
But after a short section of small bumpy (and sharp) rocks, the rest of
the segment was just super tight singletrack that reminded me a lot of
something you’d see at Mendon Rd. in Sutton, MA.
So, long story short (because I DO need to prep for a race that’s going to start soon), I finished
11th out of 16 (7th in enduro and 6th in east
coast rocks). It wasn’t the start to the week I’d been hoping for, but it’s going
to be a long week. While I felt like I was going to completely explode, I
managed my efforts appropriately so I could save myself a little bit for today.
Today’s race? About
40 miles with close to 6k feet of climbing. Hurt so good, right?
Oh yeah - side note: last night’s dinner was delicious
(various stir fry flavors), and this morning’s breakfast (everything
imaginable) was even better. The kitchen staff here is amazing, and that is a
gross understatement.
Keep the faith, mamma. You know you have put in the time.
ReplyDeleteOh, that was from me.
ReplyDeleteXo
Meg