Also let me preface my last 2 terrible placings with the fact that I am not training. And it shows. School and work have taken over my life and if I get 3 hours of training in a week I'm doing well. So the racing for 2.5 hours pretty much has been doubling my training time. So in light of that, its no wonder I'm not doing as well as I'd like. I am however learning a crapload about how to actually ride my mtn bike (which surprise surprise is very different than my road bike).
Bear Springs is a really remote course. Its also very pretty. And has just about every type of terrain you could imagine. Rocks, exposed cliffs, single track, double track, water crossings, loose dusty areas, and patches of snow/slush/mud this year. Apparently the race promoters were on snowmobiles 2 weeks prior to the race.
The bright side to finishing last is the fact that I didnt have to push myself and put myself into uncomfortable situations where I didnt know how to handle my bike. I paced myself and figured out how to roll over all sorts of stuff. How to not whack my pedals on rocks constantly. And the best part, there was no crashing involved in this race (unlike Chain Breaker, where I made out with the dust several times).
The water was running really high in the areas near the streams. So high in fact that the trails were underwater in those areas. The organizers had put in a log bridge in one spot, and in others put in a bunch of log rounds for stepping on (so we didnt damage the delicate stream bank environment which is cool). The rounds were a little floaty so it was a bit hairy to walk across them. Also there was some that had floated away in the current, so we had to forge the creek. Not being a tall person, the water was mid shin on me and then sinking into the mud it was knee deep. The water was cold, but it was a hot race so it was kind of nice. Until the mud dried in my cleats around the pedals and I had a couple close calls because I had a hard time unclipping. The biggest frustration for me of the day was missing a small course marking and going off course, up a large assed climb for 15 minutes. I wouldnt have been so far off time had I not done that. Oh well.
Pretty much everything I do on my mtn bike is brand spanking new to me (still have been riding mtn bike for less than a year). It does make life exciting and interesting. And occasionally there are a few white knuckle moments (ok more than occasionally).
The most flattering shot of me...
Posts
1 comment:
Good Job!
Post a Comment