This weekend I was supposed to be in Canada racing Paris-Ancaster. That did not happen. To make a long story really short, I was summoned for federal jury duty and wasn't sure if I was going to be able to defer it or not. Mental note: check date on jury duty forms before tossing them in a pile. Granted, I wasn't going to have to serve on the weekend, but between jury duty and work, a quick trip to Canada suddenly became not so easy to do.
So I spent the week mountain biking on my new bike and did the Yankee Spring TT for a training race. The course is less then an hour from my house and one of my favorite places to mountain bike in spring and early summer.
I wasn't sure how I would do at the race because my legs were not-so-fresh from training and time-trials are NOT my specialty. But I got first place. I guess this is the part where I also have to admit that I was the ONLY female racing elite, so I had first place in the bag from the beginning. Ha ha, I love races like that :-)
The good news is that I would have placed fourth if I raced in my age group in the expert men division. So I do have that going for me!
Back to the race...
We had to do two laps of the course, each lap being 11 miles long. The start was freaking cold. Snow was falling and as usual I did not warm up enough. So for the first 15 minutes of the race I felt like I was going to black out. I know I went out way too hard, but all of the expert men were starting behind me and I had this vision of me getting in everyones way. But only three guys passed me in the first lap, and I managed to pass one back. Yes (fist pump!)
Taking off at the start on my new bike......GOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
The second lap was not so pretty. I managed to hold it together for the most part, but there was an incident going up one of the climbs where I was actually zig-zagging. Not sure what happened but I had a few moments where my legs just exploded. Not to mention there were a few spots where I had wind resistance. That shouldn't happen when you are in the woods!!! I finished with a time of 1:48:35.
Done!!! It was under 40 degrees outside at this point and I was hot....
Initially my plan was to race SS afterwards, but while racing with gears I decided that there was no way that I could go back out there. But after about 5 minutes of pedaling around easy I was ready to go again. I have to admit that I was a little nervous too. I hadn't been on my SS once yet this year. But the nice thing about SS'ing is that it's the easiest thing in the world. Unless of course, you can't make it up a hill :-)
My SS start was slightly different then when I started in the elite class. I was sent out with the kids, behind all of the beginners.
Check out my competition. She's the daughter of cycling friends of ours, and was actually wearing her moms arm warmers for legs warmers. I thought she would be intimidated since I was about ten times bigger then her but not so much. She went for the hole shot and almost got it!
Mental note: practice race starts every day from this point on....
Anyways, my SS race was just fun. My time was definitely a lot slower but there were huge groups of people racing in the woods, and I had to pass by them slowly. I figured that I already had my race, so there was no point in worrying about my time (and to be completely honest it felt really, really, really good to not be maxed out!) I quickly figured out with the kids that it was easier to just pass them without saying anything. At first I would try warning them that I was going by but a few actually pulled off course and came to a complete stop. I felt like a big bully!
There is something about riding a SS that I absolutely love. And I noticed a huge difference out on the course. I don't want to jinx myself, but I think I'm a lot stronger from all of the strength work I did with
Jason this winter. I used to struggle on some of the hills and this year they were all much easier. That's a good thing because the SS class at
Lumberjack is going to be really competitive this year. It feels weird to be writing about the Lumberjack already, but it's going to be here before I know it. Which means I need to start riding my SS a lot more!!!
Half-way through the race I really started to feel it. My muscles were aching and it was obvious that I haven't had much time riding trail yet. I was really happy the course was so twisty, because it's an area where I need more practice. I'm getting better, but there were times where I lost a ton of momentum because of too much braking. 
Towards the end of my 6th lap I was riding with a group of guys when I heard the 2 guys in front of me yell something. I was completely delirious from the heat, so the fact they were yelling snake didn't register until I almost ran over it. Let me just say, it was huge. I'll see snakes in Michigan every once in a while, but they are usually the size of pencils. This thing scared the crap out of me. And since I was crazy from the heat (this is my excuse-I'm sticking with it) I slammed on my brakes and started screaming like a lunatic. I'm talking blood-curling screams. The guy behind me started laughing and looking back, I'm embarrassed by it now. But the good news is that I discovered a new talent and might have to audition for a horror movie. I had no clue I could scream like that!
Podium shot...
Arms up! 2 out of 3 is good enough :-)
Tomorrow we are heading over to the Tsali area and will be doing a easy recovery spin. After that we are hoping to get a few long days in. 
In between errands we stopped for some BBQ at a restaurant in Charlotte. It was so freaking good. I don't follow any specific diets, but I usually eat pretty healthy. Wait, are pizza and gummy bears healthy??? At any rate, I usually don't eat dessert for lunch the day before a race. However, today it could not be helped. We split homemade pecan pie and banana pudding. Good night. Seriously, I am still in a food coma. At any rate, I'll be faster going down the hills tomorrow :-)
Scott and I are both doing a 6 hour mountain bike race tomorrow and wanted to pre-ride the course today. Unfortunately the weather was not cooperating. Temps were stuck in the 50's and it rained all day. Hmmmm....just like Michigan (only warmer). Instead I spun my legs around in the hotel parking lot. Completely lame, but our hotel is stuck in suburban hell-one wrong turn would put me on the highway!
The second lap was not so pretty. I managed to hold it together for the most part, but there was an incident going up one of the climbs where I was actually zig-zagging. Not sure what happened but I had a few moments where my legs just exploded. Not to mention there were a few spots where I had wind resistance. That shouldn't happen when you are in the woods!!! I finished with a time of 1:48:35. 
Initially my plan was to race SS afterwards, but while racing with gears I decided that there was no way that I could go back out there. But after about 5 minutes of pedaling around easy I was ready to go again. I have to admit that I was a little nervous too. I hadn't been on my SS once yet this year. But the nice thing about SS'ing is that it's the easiest thing in the world. Unless of course, you can't make it up a hill :-)
Anyways, my SS race was just fun. My time was definitely a lot slower but there were huge groups of people racing in the woods, and I had to pass by them slowly. I figured that I already had my race, so there was no point in worrying about my time (and to be completely honest it felt really, really, really good to not be maxed out!) I quickly figured out with the kids that it was easier to just pass them without saying anything. At first I would try warning them that I was going by but a few actually pulled off course and came to a complete stop. I felt like a big bully! 
We added some Thomson bling to the bike...
