Cohutta 100 Race Report part 2

Ok.

Here we go.

My official Cohutta "Danielle vs. Wet Bridges" race report.

On Friday, Matt, SS Paula, Dan and I spent the morning working on bikes, and getting our gear ready. I had a killer headache, and I think it was from the extreme temperature change. It was close to 80 degrees. Nice, but shocking considering my boots were still out at home.

Pre-race bike prep...

Getting my Hydrapack bladders ready...

After getting our registration packets we pre-rode the course. It was so nice to be on trails again and I wanted to stay on my Racer-X all day. If I knew how my race was going to end up, I would have.

Paula and I hanging out...take note of the bridge that we are standing on.

This area of Tennessee is really pretty....

Riding over rocks...


We rode for about an hour, then hung out at the whitewater center talking to friends. After an awesome dinner at a diner called Goodfellas (it's owned by a former chef of the Detroit Pistons), it was time for bed. The race start was at 7 a.m. and we wanted to have plenty of time in the morning to get ready.

It rained all night, and was still raining by the time we lined up. There were more then 30 women registered and for once the field was just as stacked as the guys. It was pretty exciting, and I couldn't wait to get started. I was a few people away from Floyd Landis, and kept staring at him. Finally he looked over, so I had to wave like a school girl. He waved back, and probably thought "who is this freaky girl staring at me?"

The start took off XC style (very fast), and I had that "I'm seeing stars" feeling that I always get during my first race of the season. The first part of the singletrack was pretty slick and I saw a few crashes. Luckily, my Racer-X made up for any errors that I made, and I stayed upright.

After about 10 miles of singletrack, we dumped out onto a wooden suspension bridge. I was in 4th place, and wanted to move up before we hit the gravel roads. By the time I hit the bridge, I was already looking across it, trying to spot Carey.

The bridge was soaking wet, and I turned onto it so fast that I was laying on the ground for a few seconds before I realized that I had crashed. It was awful. My right hip and leg slammed into the wood, and my frame landed directly on my knee. I think I went into shock. For the first time in my life, I couldn't rebound. It wouldn't have been so bad, except that my knee was still in the process of healing from my first crash of the season. Hitting it again felt like someone had taken a hammer and slammed it full force into my kneecap.

There were a ton of spectators watching me, but I couldn't get up. It hurt so much that I actually started dry heaving for a moment, which has never happened before. Someone tried to cover me up with a rain jacket to keep me warm, and I stayed on the ground for about 10 minutes-watching all of the racers ride past me, convinced that my race was over.

I felt like a complete idiot. First of all, I know how slippery wood gets when it's wet. I never should have taken the bridge so fast. Second of all, I had already witnessed a few crashes on some of the earlier bridges. That alone should have served as a reminder to take it easy. Third of all....well, I was curled up in a semi-fetal position crying in front of a bunch of spectators.

Eventually the pain started to subside, and I was able to stand. One of the spectators told me that I should sit down because they had an ambulance on the way. I started to sit down, and then stood back up. I have this vague recollection of facing everyone and announcing that I was going to "hop back on my bike," and I did just that. I wasn't trying to be some sort of "race martyr," but it was going to make more then a bruised knee to make me quit a race at mile 10. Especially when I had a brand new bike waiting to race.

To be continued tomorrow....