It was 17 degrees as we left my in-law's house at 6:50 am. I was wearing so many clothes I could have passed as a shopping cart homeless women. I had on 2 short sleeved shirts, one long sleeve shirt, arm warmers, my jersey top, compression stockings, 2 pairs of knee high socks, fleece lined leggings, my chamois and my Northface winter jacket. I looked over at my partner in crime and realize he was wearing his jacket, long sleeve shirt, short sleeve shirt, warm leggings and chamois. No where near the amount of clothes I had dawned and he was not the one about to expend hundreds of calories. It had been a long time since my husband had been able to join me at race. It was nice to have him with me, even if he made me look ridiculously over dressed.
I had been hydrating and carb loading the entire day prior. I had my morning oatmeal, dried apricots, yogurt, banana and almonds. I started my water bottle of pre-race hydration. On our way to the race I felt the pressure of the three elastic pant bands over my bladder. Yep, I had hydrated myself well . After stopping off one time to empty the over hydrated bladder we finally arrived at the Mount Tabor Park.
We saw the Maxxis tape, lots of cars with bike racks, a few bikes leaning on cars but surprisingly few people out warming up. As we glanced around at the cars we realized that the majority of the people were being smart and sitting in their warm cars. After we parked, I got my number and rushed back to sit in the car for as long as I could. I was not going to warm up my legs on the bike this time. It was 19 degrees with a blistering wind. Just by being outside you were expending countless, precocious calories trying to stay warm. If you stopped moving, your muscles would cool down much too quickly. Really not worth the effort.
After doing the "it is ridiculously cold" jig during the racers meeting, we all got our gear and lined up. Knowing that I did not want to push off too hard without having warmed up I placed myself in the middle of the pack. The mass start went off well. While it was smart not to blast out of the gate, I did get stuck behind some inexperienced riders who were a little skittish of the closeness that is created by a mass start. Next time I will defiantly get closer to the front.
We did one parade lap around a cement pathway and headed up the road to the trail head. The pack did not spread out as much as it should have. As I approached the left hand turn onto the trail it all came to a complete stop. We funneled through and finally started to get some resemblance of race speed. By this time I am starting to get into a groove and realized that my fingers are so cold that I cannot even feel the shifters. I just tried to ignore the cold and kept pedaling. I kept pace behind a few riders for a while then felt that I was not maintaining the speed I wanted. I passed a few people, started to pick up pace, then the reality of having not ridden this trail set in.
The Mount Tabor trail is relatively flat with an old school feel; lots of tight turns, lots of close trees and true single track. So, the first lap I was getting a feel for the course. Contributing to my first lap apprehension was the fact that I had not been on a mountain bike for at least 2 weeks. It had been bike trainer rides only for too long due weather that left trails unridable. After seeing several poor souls dealing with mechanicals and "chicking" some poor unexpecting guys, I made it through the first lap. Of course, as I approached the transition area I see Craig running away. Luckily I had packed some nutrition in my jersey. I had my organic baby food, which I have found to be perfect for these types of races. Easy to open, high water content, easy on the stomach and nutrient packed. You can even get baby food with a protein of your choice.
I started the second lap strong. At this point I had feeling back in my fingers and toes. I was warm and feeling good. I found a group of riders to pace behind. We had some short chats discussing the pin ball effects of the last few miles of the trail. Then the guy directly in front of me, unfortunately, grazed a tree which stopped him and me flat. The guys behind us rode on. As I started to ride back off, I realized my chain had slipped. After quickly resetting it, I was off again. Thank goodness I had feeling back in my fingers or it could have taken twice as long. I got back in the groove and pushed harder. The last part of the trail was not as bad as I really focused on keeping better balance through the tight turns and threading the bike through the tight trees. I thought I could keep a more consistent pace on this lap. But part of the old school feel to this trail was the tight switch backs at the very bottom of the climbs. As soon as you start to get some speed, you come to an obstacle that requires you to slow down significantly. It really was a speed killer for me. As I came round for the end of lap 2, ran across the timer. I looked at my watch, I had shaved off at least 30 seconds from my first lap time.
Pushing on I realized I was alone. There were no other riders that I could see. I started to have those mental conversations with myself that occur at least once a race. "Why am I pushing myself, why do I make myself suffer, oops focus on the trail. Man I need some training on how to get around switch backs better." The third lap went by fairly quicker. I found motivation through wanting to get out of the cold and getting back to my children. I had a good feel for the trail and was still feeling great. I still had on all the same clothes except my Northface winter coat. I was worried about sweating too much when I started the race. I was sweating, but surprisingly it was not causing any excessive body heat loss. I came around to the transition area, looked at the clock and realized that I did not have enough time to finish another lap before the 3 hours were up. So, with some difficulty unclipping from my pedals, I crossed the timing mat and turned in my timing chip.
I had a great start to the race season. It was a frigged start but that made it all that more memorable. I improved my time every lap (shave an additional 40+ seconds off during lap 3), had some great comradery with fellow bikers, rode a very different type of trail than I am use to and most importantly, won my race while having fun! Thank you Chain Busters for another great race day. Next one, 3 hours of Alltoona on February 22nd. In the mean time things I desperately need to work on: tight cornering, managing a mass start, unclipping more smoothly and getting back on the trails, weather permitting of course.
