So Erik and I took off midday Friday to head up to McDowell Park. The race was on the competitive track which has 3 loops: Sport (~3 miles), Tech (~3 miles) and Long (~8 miles). The website claims the long loop is sutiable for everyone. I'm everyone! I had previously tried out the Sport loop while demoing bikes up there so at least I had some idea what to expect.
My race course was Sport-Tech-Long via connectors for a total of 10 miles. Erik's was Sport-Tech-Long-Tech-Long for about 20 miles of fun. When we got there we immediately got our stuff ready to go pre-ride at least the long loop. I figured as I would probably spend about 7 of the 10 miles of my course on this trail, I should probably be semi-familiar with what I was up against. Most of the course wasn't too bad. A few steep descents and some climbing but I survived. My brakes screamed. We finally hit a few spots where I wasn't willing to ride down - somewhere around Red Dot Hill and Thread the Needle. After that started this horrible climb that I gave up on about halfway up and ended up walking the rest. Once I reached the top of the South Ridge I got short break to try to recover my breathing. From this point on I figured it had to trend mostly downhill. A few sketchy locations caught me off guard. I dumped my bike at one point and got my left leg/knee tangled up in the handlebars. Please note I didn't fall as I remained standing....I just let the bike drop. :-) I also had my first run-in with a cactus on Cactus Corner. I still have little bits of needles in my finger. The rest of the trail was fairly uneventful. A couple steep downhill spots that I convinced myself I could handle...and did!
Sat morning we were up early - mostly because I had to use the bathroom and that felt like a 5 minute walk from where we were camping. So I picked up my stuff - schwag beanie this week! As I was heading back I saw Elaine and Zac pull in so I directed them over to where we were camping. The weather finally started to warm up a little bit by time I started at 8:47.
When my group took off there was little excitement. I got stuck behind some junior girls without a fabulous way to pass them for quite some time. I feared there would be a big hold up at the Double Dip, but by time I got there it was pretty clear. The rest of the Sport & Tech loops were uneventful and actually pretty easy. Sadly, I could see the the person in front of me getting further away.
Once I hit some of the climbs on the Long loop, the marathoners started passing me. Fabulous. I hiked up a few spots and walked down a few others. I nearly endo'd twice. I was tired, it was hot, why was the end so far away? I saw the photographer as I'm trying to climb a hill without dying. Seriously, why can't they be in cool places like at a bottom of a hill because I'm more likely to look less like death going down a hill! Finally I saw the parking lot come into view. Unfortunately there was still a ways till you hit the finish line and I just didn't have any more push left. I sort of spun in without trying too hard. I knew I was most likely last unless someone fell off a cliff and I didn't see them.
I grabbed some ice for my knee which when stiff as soon as I finished. Later when results got posted I learned that Zac (Elaine's husband) had managed to beat me - in my AG! The results got screwed up but it was a good laugh. Erik finished 8th and in his goal time of about 2 hours.
2 races down!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment