McDowell Meltdown, Race 1, January 19

Our first series race in Arizona. We packed up the matching Procalibers, and left home at 4:30am...headed for McDowell Mountain's competitive track. We stopped at McDonald's for our pre-race breakfast: hotcakes and sausage, coffee for me, diet coke for Zach.

We arrived at the venue and went to register. With number plate, timing chip, and goodie bag in hand, we headed back to the Element so I could start getting ready. One of the BIG differences from the WORS series, women start at 8:35am. Expert men start at noon. Getting up so early in the morning kinda sucks, but there are benefits. I definitely prefer racing in cooler weather. As the season progresses, I will be so grateful for the early start. And the other nice thing is that Zach and I can finally watch each other race. No camelbacks for us. We've got race support.

It took me too much time to get dressed and ready, I was out of practice. Last race I did was mid-season 2006. I didn't really warm up enough. And looking back, I wasn't really worried about this race ahead of time. Probably just because I had no idea what to expect and really didn't think I would race this season at all. But as Christina and I started out for our warm up ride, the nerves kicked in. I headed to the line a little late, but Christina let me squeeze in next to her right up front.

The "gun" went off and Christina took off and lead us all out. My plan was to stay back a little and follow someone who looked like they knew the course. The problem with this strategy was that we were doing 5 laps(sport, long, tech, sport, tech), but the first 3 were different. We didn't repeat any until the 4th lap. But I was going to play it safe anyway and just get a feel for the course.

After a quick straightaway, we jumped right into a nice rolling twisty single track. Not a whole lot of passing opportunity. I was sitting in about fourth place. After a few minutes of riding, the second place girl called out to pass Christina on a fairly steep, but short climb. Bad move. Christina weaved a little as the girl made her move and she wiped out. I can't remember the pass, but the girl in third must have passed at some point too. The the next safe spot, I called out a pass and moved ahead. Clean pass, thank goodness.


I stayed close to the girl in first for most of the first lap. But at the top of one of the climbs, she dabbed and then kept her foot down. Let me pass. So I took off and must have picked up the pace a little. I didn't hear her for a while. I felt really good the first and second lap, but in the third lap I started to feel it in my legs. Cramping and no climbing strength at all. Must have been vacation with my family the week before that was creeping up on me.

I hadn't heard anyone behind me for a while and then in the fourth lap the girl (turns out she was pro) that let me pass her flew by me like I was standing still. I knew it wouldn't be long before I would be passed again. I pushed on, but the super steep hills that are peppered in here and there on the course got the best of me. I had to walk way too many of them. And every time I put a foot on the ground, my quads cramped up. So on the last lap, Jill passed me not too far into it, and then Windy passed me on the long climb towards the end of the lap.




I was happy with third. It was a beautiful day. Jeff was there for his first ever mountain bike race, Tim and Elizabeth came up from Tucson, and my parents drove down from Sedona. Zach was happy with his race (even though he flatted) and finish. After the race we drove straight to Sedona to finish off the 3 day weekend with them.