Racing In A Hurricane

This past weekend was a big UCI weekend up in Vermont. I like VT. A lot. Recently, we've been saying how we need to do a trip up to Burlington, have a pumpkin ale at Magic Hat and enjoy the town. However, we've been traveling quite a bit lately or if not traveling, entertaining house guests. We were really more psyched to stay close to home and chill. So it was with little regret I decided to race Bedford, a mere 6 miles from home instead of trekking up to VT. Apparently, everyone else headed north, though. Staying with my plan of racing the Pro/1/2/3 races whenever possible, I pre-registered and as of the morning of the race there were only three of us. (!!!) The 3/4 race had a nice group of NEBC women competing. I briefly considered doing both but there was just too much time in between races. I didn't want to kill the entire day.

And then there was the weather. Hurricane Kyle was offshore and dumping 6 inches of rain on the Boston area. Last year, I didn't get to race Bedford (was sipping little umbrella drinks on a beach on the Big Island) and I heard it was seriously dusty, hard surface and bumpy. While they changed up the course a bit, Kyle made it a mud fest, especially by the time my race rolled around at 1:30pm.

The course itself was pretty basic. The start/finish was on a paved straightaway up onto grass. A few twisty turns. Up a short hill by the pit and into a muddy meadow with a set of barriers. Then a short sprint up a paved sidewalk, a few turns in the trees with a couple of roots, back on grass with some slick 180 degree turns, through the parking lot and down a very muddy hill with a barrier and back up the hill. Not very technical at all but the mud made it more challenging. And the grass, my least favorite, was soggy and muddy - totally opposite from last week's flat, short, dry grass at Sucker Brook.

Since riding with the "big girls" is still somewhat novel for me, my goals for the race remain quite modest: 1) Don't get lapped 2) Try not to come in last. Given there were only 5 of us on the start line, I feared this could be the embarrassment of the season but then reminded myself, I'm riding this division to get a longer race in, results don't matter, and hell, it's fun to ride in the mud and rain. Really fun.

The course had become pretty soupy by the time my race rolled around. There were a couple of sections of peanut butter mud and most of the grass had turned to energy sucking muck. While I totally enjoy the challenges brought on negotiating twisty slippery, muddy turns in such conditions, I hate the long straight stretches of plowing through muck. At the line, the official asked us if we minded racing for 40min instead of 45 since they were running slightly behind schedule plus UCI and Nationals are always 40 min. We all agreed. Very low key start with only 5 of us. Since there was ample opportunity to pass and no crowds, there was no true sprint for the hole shot. I was second off the pavement onto the dirt and in fact about 15 sec after the whistle, I looked behind me to see what happened to the other three riders. Weirdest start to a cx race I've ever experienced.

The woman who took the hole shot (and eventual winner) never looked back. She powered through all the slop and mud and accelerated away from me like I was standing still (which it actually felt like I was doing sometimes.) I fell into 4th place by the time we hit the first set of barriers on the first lap and at that point decided I better turn it up a notch if I wanted to stay out of last place. Thanks to Julie's shouted tip ("Find a rhythm!") I reminded myself to walk that fine line between blowing up while keeping the gas pedal floored. That's really been a big one for me this season. I've been redlining way to early in races, especially last year. So the focus in my head became: find the rhythm, float the mud, find the best line. All of that really helped. I ended up running the hill on the backside of the course all 5 laps since it seemed faster and less energy sucking than riding. On the slight incline by the pit, I was forced off my bike for four laps for the same reason. Last lap, I was so fed up with it and felt so lame (since it was barely a hill) that I vowed I wouldn't get off and did make it (much to the happiness and cheering of the folks in the pit!). One small victory. On that last lap, as I was running up that last hill following the final barrier, I saw the leader coming into the that section. That spurred me on to make sure I wasn't lapped (mission completed). And I did manage to hold my 4th place position. Which surprisingly, was good for a podium spot and a nice envelope of cash! Big thanks to Julie, Kathy, Geoff, David and Serene for all the encouragement out there. Helped a lot. And thanks to OxiClean for getting all the mud out of my skinsuit. ;-)