Nerves, breathe,washroom, breathe,warm up, breathe! So we head to our staging area. O-Cup #1 was here........
Jay, my daughter Paiten and I headed up to Mansfield (4.5 hour drive North) on Friday, April 24, 2009. (Later joined by friends and team mate Kim, Pak and Chris) The forecast 12 hours prior to our arrival said sunny all weekend, clear skies high of 22°C-25°C. As we got closer the forecast changed and so the blue sky! Under clouds we were, and rain fell. We arrived around 5:00 p.m., set up camp (tent). Alright I'll give credit where credit is due, Jay and Paiten set up camp, thanks! We were able to camp on site at the venue. The sky cleared up off and on and I went out for my pre-ride. The course had great flow, was fast and I did (2) laps and felt great. When I got back to camp Jay and Paiten went out to pre-ride her course. Night came, so did the wind and some rain and I slept ok :( Woke up in the morning to overcast, however temps were mild, took care of the daily a.m. routine, and pre-rode (1) more time around 11:00 a.m.. The ride was good, 1 wipe-out, nice 'charlie' to my left quad, but nothing that A535 can't handle! As the day went on the temps dropped and it rained with high winds off and on. We stayed in our tent a.k.a. our 'villa', and did our best to stay positive and warm. How can they be so far off on the forecast 12 hours before? We did not pack properly. In fact we even left the umbrella(s) at home. Anyways, the day-night would carry on with, wind, rain, no rain, wind, rain...... Saturday's night sleep was very bad. It was damp and cold. My muscles were tense just trying to stay warm. I slept off and on and by 5:00 a.m I grabbed my blanket and pillow and I opted to go sleep on the bench seat in the van. (Okay, play the violin, offer me some cheese, but I need to vent!)
Now Sunday morning and back to where my blog began. Paiten had an 8:30 a.m. start, racing pee-wee under 12. As always, she made mom and dad proud. She had fun and got muddy, smiled making her way down the 'devil's drop' (as her steering wobbled as she made her way over the break bumps, but was able to avoid a wipe-out), and to the finish line my girl went. A podium finish! 3rd place and a happy girl, what more could we want? 1:30 p.m. seemed to take forever to come, but it did. My warm up was short, but to the start line I went. 1 minute, 15 seconds, go! The Elite women were off and I had a weak opening climb that put me 5th up the gradual climb. My legs felt flat! They were not the same legs I had for Friday(s) pre-ride. I felt like I was playing catch up all race. To make things even better (I say with sarcasm), my last (2) laps were raced 'sans', 'no' back brake! Needless to say that made me scrub speed going into turns and working my way down technical downhills, but at this point I was not pulling myself from the race. I crossed the finish line 4th, 20 sec. behind 3rd. Not the position I wanted but through it all I still enjoyed the ride.
So, I whined, complained, and vented but don't get me wrong we had a fun weekend (forget about the weather), we had good company and I had a great cheering section. CHICO Racing once again put on a great race.
I look forward to the next race where it will be 1 minute, 15 seconds, go!
Cheers,
Sue
The "wonderful" sound of the alarm went off at 4:30am this morning and I knew I had to be out the door within 30 min. to get to Kim's house for 5:15am. Paiten (my daughter) had decided to come with me to be my "feed girl" and I liked that idea very much. I'm happy to see that she is interested in being part of the bike scene! Anyways, off to Kim's to meet her and Pak (Kim's boyfriend, our friend and driver of the 2.5 + hours trip NW). We were heading to Yankee Springs, just south of Grand Rapids MI for a Time Trial. This was my first race of the season. I have never been there before and was excited to hear a bit about the trail before heading out for the 2 lap, 35km, TT. We pulled into the parking lot around 9:00 am under cloudy skies and temp around 44° F. A couple of washroom trips, registration, and off for a quick warm up. Okay this was my first sign, my legs were tired and did not want to respond even through the warm up. Come on, alright I tried to convince myself that once I got out on the trails they would get some "zip", so the warm up continued and off to the start line. The women were going to be going 1 at a time with 15 sec. between each. I was 8th of the 9 Expert/Elite riders to start. The women had a fast field and I recognized a few of them. Knowing the competition today was a day you had to have your stuff and legs together. At 'go' the course started with a nice downhill into sweeping turns and flowing single track. In fact this course was all single track, however passes were still very do-able. I caught a few women as the 1st lap went on. The trails were in great shape, the legs were not! Note to self: need recovery! In the end I took 3rd. The MMBA did a great job with this event. My 'company' for the day was great with some good laughs at my daughters expense. (Caution: watch were you walk!) ;) This week will be a light week in preparation for O-Cup #1!!!
