Back to St. George - MTB Race #1

Overlook of Sidewinder (filtered)

I competed in my first mountain bike race of the season yesterday - in the Desert Rampage race. It was so fun! I felt really good: I climbed the hills faster than I remember doing them in the past, and I braved more of the technical stuff than normal. There is still one rock climb that I'm too nervous to try. Maybe someday. There were seven ladies in my category, which is bigger than normal for my category but expected for these St. George races. Two of the ladies stayed way back for the beginning of the race - I could hear them gabbing and laughing while I road ahead of them. I didn't get the feeling they would be much competition. Ha! Then there was another lady just ahead of me that I kept within my sights. I'm so low on competitiveness when it comes to this kind of stuff because I max out so easily that it seems like anyone can pass me on an uphill so I don't even bother with the idea of trying to pass anyone. So I don't worry about trying to pass anyone. When I got to the top of the first big climb, and I was roasting from all the layers I was wearing (it was super cold that morning!), I stopped and took the time to take a layer off - the middle layer nonetheless. Then I got started again and by that time I couldn't really see the lady that was just in front of me. When I finished, some of my friends cheered me on and then teased me for taking the time to remove a layer. I laughed with them and didn't think anything of it - until I saw that I was only 40 seconds behind the 4th place lady! Oh my gosh! I maybe could have caught up to her and passed her if I hadn't of stopped to remove that layer!! Oh geez. Oh well. I'll learn someday to not wear so much, and second, to not bother to take clothes off during the race. Ha ha! I am excited to compare my time this year to past years' times to see how much I improved. Maybe this boot camp helped after all!

Overlook of Sidewinder (unfiltered)

Preriding was fun on Friday, although I had a little bit of trouble with my cleat on my left shoe - I had lost a screw! So the cleat had slid all the way back toward my arch and heel (when it is supposed to be right under the ball of my foot) and had twisted around. So maybe that was the cause of my fall two weeks ago when I hurt my knee - I remember thinking it was strange that I couldn't get out of my pedal as I fell over. (Since then my knee has given me some trouble and I was just diagnosed with patellar tendinitis this past week. The doctor put me on some steroid that would help with the inflammation so it's a good thing they don't test for doping at these mountain bike races!) Anyways, I actually fell over on my left side again trying to get my foot loose from my pedal before I realized what was wrong with my cleat. A couple of the men that I was riding with (in a big group of teammates) came back to see if I was okay. One of them was able to tighten the remaining screw so it would work and I could finish the preride.

And then after the race, we went for another "leisurely" ride on Sidewinder and Barrel Roll. Everyone would generally get ahead of me as expected, but it appeared I was only a few minutes behind them so I was pretty proud of myself! And they were very encouraging! They would cheer me on from the other side of the ravine where they were ahead of me. Ha ha! It was a lot of fun and I was very encouraged. I hope this means I am actually improving!