So no racing for me this past weekend. I decided to take a week off because I was having a not so good feeling about the Powder Monkey race, and my knee was still in pain from the climbing at Welch so avoiding additional large hills was a plus.
Ive been doing some road riding for a change, It was a pleasant break from trail riding. Plus YAY! My riding buddy with the broken scaphoid is finally back in the saddle! Andy and I were out to dinner with my ridin buddy and her hubby. They were saying that they were kinda happy to have the racing season coming to a close, when WAAHBAM! I realized, jeez I really am also. Racing is a great thing and so much fun but it definately wears one down. Plus you have something going on every single weekend. No time to just sit at home and relax or hang with long lost friends. I have many people that I owe some visits too!
So I am realizing that my recent crashes are because I have not done this amount of physical activity in one year since before I could drive. My mind and body are ready for a month off and a nice refreshing start.
Two of the best races are yet to come, the Laddies Loppet and the Jail Trail. I have been taking it easy and doing some trail walking/running in order to keep in shape but give myself a bit of a break. If the next two races pan out well for me than I have a shot at the overall 1st place spot for my age group for the whole year. SWWEEEETTTTT!
Now I have to make the big decision. Do I train over the winter and race citizen again next year so I can continue taking photos of the races, or Do I train over the winter for the sport class, double my race time and the technical abilities needed to race? It seems logical that I move up to the next class if I pull an overall 1st for the series but thats a big jump, kinda nerve racking!!
Speaking of great photos. My Mother won a photo contest, she actually won two catagories: Peoples Choice and Nature. She was supposed to send me the pic but she has forgotten numerous times, so if your lucky, she will remember and I will come back and post up the photo.
You Know, I am going to look at the Dirt Rag mag and see if they have any info regarding sending in action shots, maybe I could get some photos published. Check ya later!
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Welch Jam
This weekend was the 7th MNSCS race and my Birthday. What a great weekend!! We hit up Welch on Saturday to attempt a preride. I met up with Beth in the parking lot and she volunteered to wait for me to get ready so we could preride together. This is awesome because Beth is my competition in the series. Though I feel that she is at a level beyond me and I might not be able to catch her this year.
We started up the first climb (all welch is, is climb after climb after climb) and we slowly began to sink deeper and deeper into the thick substance covering all the trails. After about 10 mins of fighting with the foot deep mud we decided to climb the decent of the prolouge and hit it up backwards. All and All we saw about 1/5 of the course and 1 of the bizzilion hills we would be climbing the following day.
I think it worked out for the best. Had I climbed all the hills on the preride I would have had nothing left for the race.
I came in first in my age group and 3 overall for the women. Not to bad but I was holding out for the 2nd place position. I got beat by a younger gal. After climbing/walking the hills I was spent at the top and spent sometime on the double track recovering. Well Jordan, who is quite the awesome racer would come sprinting by me with a big grin on her face. She loved every minute of passing me up.
Jordan and I played cat and mouse a bit, I would catch her on the singletrack where I had no room to pass, then pass her on the climbs then she would sprint infront of me on the straight aways. We had a good time and warned each other about upcoming sketchy areas and gripped about the upcoming climbs.
In the end, she beat me by 45 secs. I got into a funk near the end and ended up walking my bike down a section, after the section I ran into some fellow team mates taking photos. I swear I was only there for a second, but after the race they said I sat there with them for probably a minute. They were like "what the heck, your racing, GET GOING!" so I suppose I could have had a photo finish. But all in all I was happy about the race and atleast I was beat by deserving folk!
After the race, we had some peace coffee hanging time, I got quoted for an article to be written for the MNSCS series regarding the WElch race. I cant really remember what I said, other than the fact that it included the word "Moist" It outta be an interesting article. Hopefully I sounded smart ; )
We had dinner at Kings Bar & Grill. Great Burgers as usual!!! Then home for a well earned shower and rest.
We started up the first climb (all welch is, is climb after climb after climb) and we slowly began to sink deeper and deeper into the thick substance covering all the trails. After about 10 mins of fighting with the foot deep mud we decided to climb the decent of the prolouge and hit it up backwards. All and All we saw about 1/5 of the course and 1 of the bizzilion hills we would be climbing the following day.
I think it worked out for the best. Had I climbed all the hills on the preride I would have had nothing left for the race.
I came in first in my age group and 3 overall for the women. Not to bad but I was holding out for the 2nd place position. I got beat by a younger gal. After climbing/walking the hills I was spent at the top and spent sometime on the double track recovering. Well Jordan, who is quite the awesome racer would come sprinting by me with a big grin on her face. She loved every minute of passing me up.
Jordan and I played cat and mouse a bit, I would catch her on the singletrack where I had no room to pass, then pass her on the climbs then she would sprint infront of me on the straight aways. We had a good time and warned each other about upcoming sketchy areas and gripped about the upcoming climbs.
In the end, she beat me by 45 secs. I got into a funk near the end and ended up walking my bike down a section, after the section I ran into some fellow team mates taking photos. I swear I was only there for a second, but after the race they said I sat there with them for probably a minute. They were like "what the heck, your racing, GET GOING!" so I suppose I could have had a photo finish. But all in all I was happy about the race and atleast I was beat by deserving folk!
After the race, we had some peace coffee hanging time, I got quoted for an article to be written for the MNSCS series regarding the WElch race. I cant really remember what I said, other than the fact that it included the word "Moist" It outta be an interesting article. Hopefully I sounded smart ; )
We had dinner at Kings Bar & Grill. Great Burgers as usual!!! Then home for a well earned shower and rest.
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