The Cable Classic bike race took place yesterday. It was good to get out of Duluth. I am starting to feel a big caged and overworked. We have been cleaning our house and getting things organized for our babies arrival. Granted we have lots of time, but I already feel far behind on my motherhood reading.

I am going to focus on the good things about the race/participation event. It was warm enough at the race start - and sunny - that I could wear shorts and a short sleeve jersey. :) Luckily I stuck my arm warmers and vest into my hydration pack for the end of the race. I was very comfortable temperature-wise for the first 14 miles and riding at a decent pace, keeping the rubber side down on my bike for the entire race. At this stage in my pregnancy, I cannot afford to fall and I rode extra careful and slower especially on the downhills. I was riding my winter bike - which I love, but it is a hardtail and soooo much slower and more work than my race bike. I am still waiting for my front fork and rear shock to arrive for my new bike. I convinced Scott to ride his old Fuel instead of me and the steer tube is no longer high enough for my growing belly to be comfortable. Although, a full-suspension would have definitely been the bike to ride on this course. I don't remember there being that much singletrack last year - but I had more time to take it all in and enjoy it than in previous years. I got a lot of riding out of the saddle time during the race - I figured about 12 miles (of a 23 mile race) or so as about 1/2 way into the race my belly was very tired of the bumps. I stood on every downhill and rough section. I got to experience the race from an entirely different point of view. After riding a hardtail for this race and I can say they are much much slower on rough terrain. If the trail was baby-butt smooth, then a hardtail would be great. It was brutal on this course for me anyway. Luckily, Scott took off the bontragger rigid fork and put the suspension fork back on. Baby hates bumps and I am sure I would have had to DNF had I not had a suspension fork. Otherwise, the course was fantastic with a bit of cyclocross-type barrier action. There were high winds the night before the race that blew down a bunch of trees across the trail. I must have dismounted about 10x to climb over size-able trees! After about 14 miles I got really tired, my little 'governor' (baby) turned on the brakes and I had to slow down to mostly a crawling pace. I am not sure why. Two weeks ago I felt fantastic! This past week I have felt terrible riding; klinda bonky and low energy most of my rides. Baby must be growing or something. Other good things are that I got to see a lot of riders I don't usually get to see and congratulate local Duluthians on a great showing!

More than half way into the race it started to get cold. And windy. I wasn't working as hard so that was part of it, but it started raining after I finished. (Thankfully I had that extra clothing with me as I had to wait for Scott to ride back to the start of the race to get the van). Luckily, our good friend Ron rode with me the last mile or so of the race. I needed some encouragement at that point. I am hoping I feel fantastic once baby is out and I lose the baby weight that I have not fully gained yet.

Other good things about the day is that I felt so tired, hungry, and a little bonked that Scott and I shared some doritos and coke. I cannot tell you the last time I ate that kind of stuff (crap was the first word that came to mind). Nothing like a race to make me crave bad food. I have been really good during this pregnancy as far as nutrition is concerned and thankfully preganancy has taken away my cravings for chocolate. I have been really good at staying away from caffeine as well and gave up my daily cup(s) of coffee. The first trimester pretty much created a major adversion to coffee and I haven't gone back except for the occassional decaf from Beaner's.

Scott felt fine for the first 5 miles or so of the race and then pretty much had nothing after that. It is so odd. Maybe he is still fighting the cats? He took a short cut to bypass the finish and head to the start of the race to pick up the van. He was thinking of his pregnant wife and making sure I wasn't the one to have to ride back to pick up the van! Otherwise, he wasn't sure he'd quite make it back he felt so terrible. We need to figure out why he doesn't race well. It is incredibly frustrating for him. One thing this race helped me develop is empathy for Scott.... it is not very fun for me to race slow (as I did in this race) and I can see why he would DNF instead of forcing himself to finish when he feels so crappy. I felt really bad the last nine miles and if I knew a shortcut to get back to the finish I would have probably taken the DNF and shortcut. It is tough to stay in a race when the body is not cooperating. At least I am pregnant, have way more blood volume, some physiological anemia, and extra weight that I do not normally carry as all reasons for my inability to go faster than medium speed. Most days when I ride I go incredibly slow. I was practicing balancing while riding during this race as I would crawl up the steeper climbs at such a slow pace that any slower I would have tipped over. But, I was still happy to be outside, on my bike, and in the woods riding singletrack.

I better get to bed. Back to work tomorrow morning and baby needs me to sleep. She has been really active and I can feel her move quite a bit when I am sitting or laying down. It is really cool!