One Weekend, Three Races: Part 2 - Sunday

Sunday was at my second favourite course of the Super 8 Series: Capital Cross at Lake Fairfax Park.  I feel like this is my home course, since I mountain bike at Lake Fairfax on a weekly basis and know the trails like the back of my hand.  Unfortunately (or so I thought), the course was going to be completely reworked due to a stream restoration project happening in the lower part of the park where half of the course used to run through.  I was a bit apprehensive about racing on a new course, especially since I loved the old one so much.

Sunday morning started out early, as per usual.  We got to the park right around 7:00.  I carried both bikes and my bike cube over to the team tent area to stake out our team's spot. Before I had even dropped the bikes, a bike friend hailed me down.  It is always great to see smiling familiar faces that early in the morning when you are having pre-race nerves!  I picked up my number and headed to the nicely heated bathroom to pin it on my jersey and help some other women get their's on before heading to pre-ride.  Several teammates were ready to pre-ride, so I headed out with them to check out the new course.  I was really apprehensive about the new design and worried it was going to be another power course instead of the techy course that I loved.

But, it turns out, the new course design was spectacular.  I enjoyed it MUCH more than the old course.  Serious kudos to Bruce Buckley and the Bike Lane team for turning what could have been a sore spot into something fabulous.  The course had just about the right amount of balance between techy and power sections.  Obviously in my opinion, the more techy the better, but then again, I feel much more at home on rooty and rocky single track than I do on a grassy false flat.

As per usual, I had a bad start.  It was compounded by being a paved uphill section that quickly turned into a grassy false flat.  I was in the top ten by the time we headed down short paved section into a downhill grassy turn.  Unfortunately, one of my teammates was knocked down hard by a passing racer in the off camber section after that corner.  She was untangling herself from her bike and tape when I came through.  She was second at that time and was pretty disappointed in addition to getting a pretty big bruise on her knee from it.

The barriers were right after a sharp corner and I was worried about scrubbing enough speed going into them.  I had trouble with the barriers on every lap, but apparently I looked pretty pro getting off my bike!

Dismounting is fun!
Photo courtesy of Trey Harris

After the barriers, we went across the dam and up the stairs, which was part of the course last year.  Other than the false flat, that was my least favourite part of the course.  Granted, anything that requires me to get off my bike on a hill that is totally rideable is never a fun thing in my book.  Remounting at the top of the stairs brought you into an amazing house party complete with energizer bunny and disco ball!  There was a mini chute with some tight loose switchbacks which was super fun!  After that was the rooty uphill that I was so glad I could ride.  While it was almost as fast to run it, I was able to put some distance between myself and others while they remounted.  At one point, I may have been in sixth place because of that hill!

Then came the best part of the whole course.  The CHUTE!  It was a relatively long and steep downhill with banked turns and amazing flow.  I LOVED it.  This was also a leftover from previous years and I am so glad they were able to keep it.  Unfortunately, I have not found a photo of me going down it yet, but I was getting some decent air off the bermed corner.  It was a blast.

After the chute was another short steep uphill that was actually faster to run it than ride it. Then back over the damn, by the team tent area and then through the start/finish hill.

By the end of the second lap, I had put a decent gap between myself and the three ladies that were chasing me.  I was feeling pretty good, and even gave some smiles and thumbs up to a teammate taking pictures!

Cross is so much fun!
Photo courtesy of Trey Harris

By the last lap, my legs were getting a little tired (mostly because of that grassy false flat!) and my competition was catching up.  A teammate, Helen, caught me coming across the damn and passed me on the little short kicker before the team tents.  We were both all smiles, though!

Buddies!
Photo courtesy of Trey Harris

As Helen and I rounded the corner onto the paved start/finish stretch, Evelyn from Pheonix Bicycles blew by us as if we were standing still!  She got almost three seconds on us at the finish with less than half a second between Helen and myself.  Out of a very strong field, I finished 9th.  I was pretty happy about that.

It turns out, I was so happy, I decided to race again!  But this time, I wanted to race for handups instead of trying to kill myself in the 3/4 race.  And I was able to talk Maureen into doing it with me.

Needless to say, the course itself was just as fun as the first race.  But, the handup game was the most fun I have had in a cross race EVER.  There was beer.  There was whisky. And there were cookies.   I am sure I will update this with more photos as I come across them.  But here are a few that I giggled at this morning when I saw them posted!

PIIIIIIIIIIE!
Photo courtesy of Trey Harris

Oh yeah!
Photo courtesy of Trey Harris

This is what I have been working for my whole life!
Photo courtesy of Trey Harris

Hmm...  Now I have to get back on my bike...  And eat...
Photo courtesy of Trey Harris

Second lap, or third...  There was whisky and another pie!

Whisky?  Why yes, yes I shall!
Photo courtesy of Trey Harris

Knocking it back like a pro! (While not riding my bike!)
Photo courtesy of Trey Harris

All smiles as I head towards more beer!Photo courtesy of Trey Harris

I dropped my chain trying to ride up the little kicker on the third lap after being goaded by some hecklers on the previous lap.  Thick gloves and a clutch derailleur (and probably the whisky and beer) made for a difficult time getting the chain back on.  Maureen waited for me and we did another lap even after being given the option for early retirement.  We ended up high fiving on the finishing stretch and coming in 24th and 25th out of 29 starters.  We totally won the whole race, even if the results say otherwise! 

 

One Weekend, Three Races: Part 1, Saturday

The race on Saturday at Red Shedman Brewery was not part of either local series, so the race times were a bit different than normal.  The women's races were at 1:00 and I was solo for the day since my significant other was not interested in another two race weekend, so no need to get up early for the men's races.  Woohoo for getting to sleep in for once!

The venue was pretty cool.  There was both a winery and a brewery on the grounds and there was beer flowing from both the local place and from Monocacy, another local brewery. One of the main reasons for me going to this race was because I had never had their beer. And trust me, it was worth the drive!

Lining up for the race was a bit confusing as there were four women's fields: 1/2/3, Master's 40+ 1/2/3, Beginner 4, and Master's 40+ Beginner 4.  There was also the added confusion of Bike Reg advising that the 1/2/3 races would be 40 minutes and the Beginner races would be 3 laps.  After doing one pre-ride lap, we realized the course was really short (barely 1.3 miles), everyone in the beginner category was confused since that would mean our race would only be about 20-25 minutes.  The officials were just as confused as we were and did not give proper instruction at the start of the race, so we all assumed all of us would race the full 40 minutes.

For once, I actually got a decent start.  I did not seem to struggle off the line and only got passed by a few women before we hit the hole shot.  I quickly started to pick people off as usual and after the barriers was in sixth spot.  The course was pretty easy with no real technical spots, so it was a course that favoured those with power, and I am not one of those racers.  I managed to hang on and ended up moving into fourth on the second lap.  I battled back and forth and bounced between fourth and sixth for the next half lap when I heard the announcer say there were four laps to go.  I slacked off, since I knew I could not keep that pace up for another four full laps (there was a LOT of flat power sections and gradual hills that I was redlining on).

Battling it out on the third lap.  Photo courtesy of Jason Calderon.

I let a couple of girls get by me to try and recover before starting the downhill into the start/finish stretch thinking I had a few more laps to pick them back off in the rooty/rocky woods section.  I could easily see the first and second place women go through the start finish and go out for another lap, so I was not setting up for a sprint up the finish stretch.  And then...  we got pulled.  The officials let several of the Cat 4 Master's and Cat 4 Open racers go through for another lap, but pulled several of us after three laps.  

Needless to say, I was not a happy camper at that point since I feel that had we all (including the officals) known at the start what the plan was, I could have had a podium spot.  But either way, it was a fun course and many of the women expressed their frustration to the race director, so I am sure next year it will be better and they will let all of the women's fields race for the full 40 minutes.

After the race, a teammate grabbed me a beer (Red Shedman Vanilla Porter, go have it, it is DELICIOUS!) and all was right with the world again.  I congratulated Laura and Sarah who both came in first place in the W4 and the Master's W4 races (they both totally deserved their wins and crushed the competition!).  High fived all the other women that raced because we are awesome and ran to my car to change clothes.  It was COLD!

Women's Cat 4 Open Podium

Women's Master's Cat 4 Podium (Not Pictured, Tania in 4th and Jocelyn in 5th)

I ended up hanging out for the last two races of the day and was glad I did.  I got to hang out with some mountain bike buddies that were helping out with the race and a few more than stopped by to spectate.  I got to heckle with friends and enjoy some more great beer.  This race, while frustrating for most of the women's Cat 4 group, was a ton of fun and at an amazing venue.  If you did not make it out this year, I highly recommend it.