It was a great weekend. Went up with John, Rachael, Casey and Zoe in their bad-ass Suburban. Made it to 9 Mile with plenty of time to preride. Caught up with all the old WORS friends and met a few new ones. Jeremy's wife Destiny watched the girls so we all went out together. Rode the course...they included some awesome singletrack, but Rachael's right, there was WAY too much doubletrack. They did not include any of the trails on the other side of Red Bud Rd, so we made our way over there after riding the course. Wow, was that fun. Possibly the hightlight of the weekend.
That night the whole MARS team met up for dinner at a sweet Mexican restaurant. Man, it was a huge group. Jerry, Barb, Jay, Jeff, the Baron, Jeremy, Destiny, Rachael, John, Brent from Twin Six...hmm I know there were a few more people...plus all of their kids! All really good kids. It was a good time.
Sunday morning I was nervous. Didn't think I'd be. My race season was over. Racing Wausau was just for fun. But it was my first race as pro rider. I had just received approval for my upgrade request earlier that week.
We made it to 9 mile with plenty of time to spare. Jeremy and Jerry already had a spot set up. The morning was fun, but it seemed really long. I could not wait to get this race done and under my belt. I hate feeling like that. What the heck was the big deal?
John fixed my bike for me and we went to watch Rachael's start. They have a big group of women. I haven't actually counted but there could very well be more women in the WORS sport class than all of the women's classes combined in the MBAA series.
Finally warm up time rolled around. I hung with Jerry for a while. The warm up kinda hurt. Not a good sign. Jerry's riding a sweet Strong ss.
We went off shortly after the expert men. I lead the group out - the sacrificial lamb. No biggie, it's not my series, but dumb move. It was just a few minutes in and Kim and Abby passed me. I hung on to the train for a while, but I was dying. Then the other specialized chick passed, Diana Hill, Claire. I started to lose track. Man, that sucked. I could accelerate, but I could not hold it. There was just SO MUCH PEDALING. I forgot how much pedaling you have to do here.
Finally made it into the first set of singletrack...probably in about 7th or 8th place. I think it was after that first section that I saw both Abby and Diana along with about 20 men on the side changing flats. Bummer. I was rooting for Abby to win it.
My position never really changed too much. I'd pass Claire or Lisa here and there but could not hold it. I never worked through the crappy feeling I had. My legs did not have anything. I saw a few of the ladies crash pretty good in the singletrack. That was one plus for me.....I felt that my riding through the singletrack was way stronger compared to previous years.
I ended up 1st place pro, but 5th overall. Blah. Not sure how I feel about that. But I'm also not sure what I really expected. I did learn that I need to figure out how to train in the mountains. How do you get a nice long ride with a consistent heart rate?
Even though I felt like crap, it was a fun race. It was awesome to back up in Wisconsin. I love 9 Mile. All that new stuff we rode Saturday night was fantastic. It was fun talking to Don about his 9th place Chequamegon finish way back when. I chatted with Danielle Musto for a few minutes right before our race started. Catching up with friends. I'm so glad I went. Now I need to figure out how to get Zach to a race before our drive back to Arizona.
John's work is never done.
Rachael chattin it up before her race.
I don't usually like podium shots, but my shirt is super cool.
