Monday, October 11, 2010

Sheboygan

Scott and I were not planning on racing this past weekend, but Claire from Trek invited me to help with a woman’s clinic and I couldn’t pass up the offer. It was really fun to get women together excited to ride bikes. I was surprised how many young kids showed up and a wide age range. We had a great time! There were about 30 women total and of those not already planning to race, a few of them decided to try the race the next day.

I have been fighting a cold all week and after the clinic on Saturday, felt quite a bit worse later that night and exhausted on Sunday when I woke. Scott and I were not sure if we would race, but since we had come this far we might as well even though my head was clogged and my throat sore. It was a beautiful day with highs in the upper 70s/low80s and sunny!

Scott’s race was going really well and he was riding in the top 4th-6th spot group when he missed a bottle and unraveled a bit. He kept it together enough to finish 10th and in the money. I finished my race and rode over to the equalizer where I luckily got to see him clean the climb and race the last bit of his race. He was a bit disappointed, but also encouraged as he was riding with really fast guys and where he belongs. I still feel bad about us having had cats for so long, we didn’t realize how allergic Scott is!

My legs didn’t feel very good on the warm up. I wasn’t feeling very well, but hoped I could race just hard enough to win. Abby led out the start, but I sprinted past her to take the Prime, then entered the singletrack ahead of her. I was able to keep the lead from then on, but didn’t have my usual punch up climbs. I also started cramping on the 3rd lap with my right hamstring almost locking up for good at one point. I slowed down, took in more water, and someone nicely raced a gel to me through the woods (thank you!!!) which helped quite a bit. Luckily, I was able to keep it together for the win!

After a long ride home and late night, I am having a great day with Kiera, playing and reading books!