Fontucky

Well this race was interesting. For starters, I went out to my car in the morning to head to the race and it was covered in tree limbs.

There had been heavy winds the night before and the tree I was parked under decided to fall apart right on top of my car. We managed to get the way cleared quickly and I still made it to the race with plenty of time to warm up. But then the race itself was a disaster. I crashed three times in the first 15 minutes in that treacherously deep "Bisquick" powder despite pre-riding everything perfectly the day before. (Well, I'm no pro but it was the 2nd time I'd pre-ridden it, so I'd kinda gotten it figured out by then.) I guess I was a little over-enthusiastic during the race. Those crashes pretty much demoralized me completely and it was hard to muster up any effort to catch the girl in front of me. And with such a bad start it was hard to stay clipped in and ride on the technical stuff (which was a good chunk of the course). So, soon the girl just ahead went completely out of sight. After finishing the first lap, I decided I'd had enough wallowing in misery, and with another girl sneaking into sight from behind, I pulled it together and started riding like I should've been all along. All the technical stuff that had shamed me on the first lap I was able to get the best of on that last 1/2 lap. So, I managed a third place finish in the end. It's a finish I'm not proud of, but not terrible all in all.

One more thing I have to mention--just that morning before I left for the race, Lyle warned me about the terrible condition the course was in and told me specifically to ride slow so that I would stay upright on those technical sections while the other girls crashed around me, thereby giving me a big advantage. Unfortunately it's not that simple, learning from others. I guess you just have to experience it for yourself. Racing is the best way to learn how to race. (Another thing coach Lyle tells me again and again.)


Maybe one day I'll be wearing the leapord print too!