After a good night sleep, Jay, the kids and myself made the 4 hour trek to Albion Hills (Bolton, Ontario) for O-Cup #2. After a bit of confusion with directions (short wrong turn, of course my map reading skills are not that great) we got there around 12:15 pm. I quickly signed in and got ready. By the looks of things (other bikes) we were in for some mud!!! Tire choice would be key. I sat on the trainer for about 15 min. as Jay did a once over on the race bike. The bike choice of the day was once again the borrowed Scott Spark and the final tire selection Schwalbe Rocket Rons. I hopped on the Spark and the legs felt good. The temp. was comfortable with the wind a tad chilly. Nice racing weather with blue skies. The race started about 10 minutes late with 15 Elite women and 10 Cadet Expert piled in the staging area. The field was fast with women such as Emily Batty, Amanda Sin, Jean Ann McKirdy, Catherine Vipond just to name a few. At go I grabbed the holeshot. 'Go Mom' echoed from the side of the course, where my 3 boys and daughter (who held a sign she had made), and Jay cheered me from the start. The 1st half of the course was dry, with single track, and a fair bit of open double track. At about 1/2 through the lap we crossed a road and the mud began! MUD, MUD, and more MUD!! At times peanut butter like, at times gooey, at times half way up the shins deep, and wet...... There was a long gradual grind through the mud climb, single track and open double track. Areas were so muddy it gave you no choice but to hike-a-bike (what seemed to take a long time!!) (I always liked playing in the mud, I thought this was actually fun!!) As I would come through for each lap, those crazy kids of mine were, cow bell in hand, and loud cheers. They made me want to push harder! I took (4) good wipe-outs flat out in the (yep) mud! I felt good through the first 3 laps and then on the last lap the legs felt the fatigue. After the mud slingin' was over it was no surprise that Emily Batty took 1st, followed by Jean Ann McKirdy 2nd, Catherine Vipond, Mikaela Kofman, Amanda Sin 5th and then Me in 6th.............. So there it is, O-Cup #2 in the history books. Once again good job by CHICO Racing. Hopefully the trails will recover real soon, I know the legs are already on the mend. Bottom line mud 'shmud' I really don't mind gettin' dirty! Overall great race, great fun, great day!
Cheers,
Sue
(Thanks to Abby O., Nathalie (the recognizable voices in the crowd) for cheering and to my 4 (+ Jay) for a great Mother's Day. You 'guys' ROCK!!)
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