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| Div. 2 awesomeness |
Sunday's race taught me a lot about myself, my racing, and how far I have come since last Fall. Last year I bought a cyclocross bike in hopes to ride off road with my friends, perhaps try cyclocross and see if I like it. I fell deeply in love with the sport after my first "race". Last year I started the season about halfway through at the begining of November, so I really only raced half a season last year, but did pretty well for the 5 races I did. I went to nationals and was a total nut case before the race, and during the race.
The difference this year was the difference before puberty and after. Yes I was paranoid, yes I was nervous, every feeling you could have before a national event. Knowing that I could never win this race against the strong girls in my field, but knowing that I could put up a fight with how far I have come since last year helped to ease some nerves. I never expected a win, I wanted a top 3 finish. Thinking to myself that the girl who won last year would clearly win again, and Lindsy from UM would take 2nd again. Both kicked my ass last year and are strong strong riders. I was nervous, but I knew who I needed to follow once the race began.
I was able to get a front row call up in a field of 18! That's the biggest D2 Cyclocross field yet ( I am sure of it!). Knowing I am not a good starter and I make up a lot of my time after the first 3 minutes of the race I told myself to not worry about trying to get my foot clipped into the pedal. Just hit the gas, pedal hard, and your foot will fall into place. That's what I did...1, 2, 3 riders sprinted past me. I wasn't worried because I was able to get clipped in and the dirt and mud was coming up quickly and I know I can do pretty well through mud. Just as in the previous races, this first turn was a cluster...even with 18 riders in the field, I can't imagine those guys who had 50+ riders. How CRAZY. The mud here was rutted out DEEP and would pull you wherever it wanted to. If you didn't let your bike go, you were sure to crash. So that's just what I did, I let my bike pull me around the rutted dirt, down the straight fast course and into the 2nd turn where I watched 3 riders take off in front me. I was sitting in 4th place at the moment and wanted SO badly to go catch those ladies, I wasn't going to settle for a 4th place finish. I rode in no mans land between the top three and everyone else trying to catch these ladies. In the group was an MIT rider, the Dartmouth gal who won last year, and some random chick in a blue jersey. I just told myself to stay calm and ride smooth and hard. I was now at the section before the flyover and Dartmouth was in view. My teammates were on a corner close by cheering, so I slogged through the mud and made the pass by her, went over the fly over and never looked back. The next section was HARD. It drained any ounce of strength I had in my legs to get one foot in front of the other over the stairs. The turn before encountering the stairs had a giant hole in it and was MUDDY, that's where I caught the MIT rider as she crashed. I thought to myself, alright you can do this, ride away NOW. I ran up the stairs, mounted my bike, caught a Fort Lewis rider, wanted the line she was in so I sort of bumped her out of the way, was far too confident and caught a stake right in between my handlebars and BAM I was in the mud. Now this is the difference between how I ride this year and last year.
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| Div. 2 podium |
Last year I went into paranoia mind breaking mode. This year I quickly got up pounded my right hood back into place and jumped back onto my bike, just as the MIT rider rode on. CRAP SHE GOT ME. From there on out it was me chasing her, she caught me, I would catch up, but eventually she got far enough that I just didn't get her, but I was able to get farther away from 4th place. I finished the race feeling strong in 3rd place.
Sunday was one of those days where you wake up and know it's going to be a good day. When I got on the trainer to warm up my legs felt great, there was no pain what so ever when I did a hard effort, it was like everything I had hoped for had come true. My body was rested and ready to race...hard. I cannot thank those spectators and friends who came out at 8 am to cheer myself and my teammates on. This is when I realized that cyclocross is not only just a sport that I love, but a family. Everyone at those races are like a family, you see them every week, you cheer for your family, they cheer for you. We laugh together, scream together, and just have a giggly good time. I can't get enough of the cyclocross environment, whether it is a local Bellingham race, Seattle race, or a nationals event; all the people are wonderful.
My one rant for Sunday's race: WTF is a 38 year old women doing racing a collegiate national event. That's momma style...props to her for going back to school, but really...38 years old? Really? Really? The women who won the D2 race is in fact 38 years old. There should be an age cut off for collegiate racing....
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| Div. 2 womens podium 3rd place |
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| Div. 2 mens podium. Steve F. 1st, Logan W. 2nd |
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