Sugar Races at Sugar Bottom!

With the promise of Whitey's ice cream echoing in our heads, Cam and I headed east this weekend for some time to be spent with family and, of course, mountain bike racing! I got up early on Saturday morning to get in my 10-mile run before we loaded up. We were going to Sugar Bottom Recreation Area (outside of North Liberty, Iowa) to pre-ride the course before continuing on to the Quad-Cities for the night. I didn't think that my legs would want to run 10 miles after an hour or more of riding, so it was good to get it out of the way beforehand.

Cam takes excellent care of me (and the bike he lets me ride) whenever I endeavor to try my luck at this crazy sport of his. We took off together for a little tour of this awesome park. It is very well-maintained and clearly marked, much like a ski slope, with green (beginner), blue (intermediate), and black (not for Julie) routes. It's great fun for me to ride with him - thankfully he slows it waaaaay down when I am with him - I can really learn a lot by watching him. Plus, he gives lots of pointers along the way. Apparently, I was a little rusty getting back on the mountain bike after a couple weeks off, and I could clearly see that I was slowing down his attempts to get a good read on the course. I sent him off on his own, then took off in search of some easy green stuff to practice some basics.

Once I found some trails that were more my speed, I got back into the groove pretty quickly. This course is much different from where I made my mountain bike racing debut - mostly singletrack as opposed to the wide open stuff at Ahquabi. I found one section that I could ride without too much trouble, but that had a few challenging sections and I rode that for about 40 minutes. About halfway through, I heard Cam ride up behind me, and I just tried to ride fast enough that he wouldn't plow me over! I had a big grin on my face the whole time, and with every pedal stroke I got more excited to race the next day.

We continued on to Bettendorf where we cleaned up and met Cam's sister, Amy, and her husband (Josh) and their kiddo (Kennan) at church in Moline. We were entertained at dinner by 17-month old Kennan's funny antics and the skinny, weird dentist who danced outside our table-side window. After dinner, we headed to Whitey's for one of the best Oreo malts I've ever enjoyed. Cam is smart and tries to watch what he eats the night before a big race. I, however, seem to want to put Whitey's ice cream above all other goals and ambitions! We split the malt, but I ate the lion's share.

Sunday morning was perfect! It was a little foggy, not too warm, not too cool. We stopped by Hy-Vee for some coffee (Cam) and bagels, yogurt, and OJ (me). My race was at 10am, but Cam didn't have to start til noon, so he would have plenty of time to inhale a box of cereal before his start.

I was hoping for a good turnout in the beginner class, as the last race I'd done only had two women in my class. I wanted to have a little more competition this time. The parking lot was pretty empty when we rolled in, but quickly filled, and I watched a few more females getting warmed up. I headed out to get the blood flowing a little bit and see if I could figure out what kind of route we'd be on. Naively, I thought that the beginner race would stick to mostly beginner-ish routes, so that was where I turned my focus. Apparently, though, they weren't quite done marking the course when I did my warm-up!

Although the picture above doesn't show it, there ended up being 7 women and 26 men in the beginner class. We lined up, received our instructions, and then we were off! We headed up the gravel road before we turned onto the singletrack. This was the section I'd reconed on Saturday and during my warm-up, so I felt like I could go for it. I think I saw 5 women go in ahead of me, so I had a couple rabbits to catch! We were no more than three or four minutes into the woods before I had my first altercation. I came around a corner a little hotter than I should have, only to find that someone planted a very mature tree right where my bike was steering itself. I had no other option than a direct hit. My only hope at the time was that I could deliver a harder blow to the tree than the tree could deliver to me. My hope was in vain. I stuffed it hard, crashing my left hand, shoulder, and knee into the bark. Saving what little face I had left, I never fell over. Another chick and a couple of guys passed me while I untangled myself from the tree. I didn't really take any time to assess the damage - my mind was still in "rage" mode from the Pantera death metal we rocked in the Jeep during the drive to the course - I just made sure that nothing was broken. You have to look really closely to see anything on my shoulder, but there is definitely blood running down my leg...

The extra adrenaline rush from the crash carried me the rest of the race. Not too much further along, the chick and one of the guys that passed me while I hugged the tree had their own little tangle during a pass, so I passed them back at that point, never to see them again. Once I got the hang of passing people, I made it my job. Don't tell anyone, but the most fun for me is cruising past the guys...

After a good 30 minutes on the singletrack, we hit the gravel for a quick couple hundred yards before getting back in the woods. The two guys I'd been chasing got passed by me like they were standing still. I was loving all the fitness I'd been working on all year! We started hitting some more technical parts of the course where I could reel guys in on the fast stuff, but they'd usually get me on the more technical areas. Overall, I was gaining, and I chicked quite a few dudes.

The third and final section was the most technical of all, and I was starting to appreciate how painful Cam's races are for him. My back was cramping and my arms were cooked, but I only had to do one lap; the experts had three! In the last third of the race we turned onto an expert trail. Right away, we had four log crossings. I easily rode over three of them...

The "highlight" of this section was Cyclocross Hill:

Riders come cruising down the first hill, cross the bridge at the bottom, then try to maintain enough momentum to make it up the other side. I think I made it about a third of the way up before I bailed, grabbed my bike, and ran up the hill 'cross-style. I passed another guy at the top of that hill! There were a bunch of people watching the carnage from the top. I made a mental note that it would be a good place to watch Cam's race when I was done.

With that section behind me, I took off for the finish. I could hear one guy behind me, so I just tried to maintain the pace for the rest of the race. I finished the 10.9-mile course in 1:10:54, about 6 1/2 minutes behind the first place female, good enough for third place.

With my race out of the way, my attention turned to getting some food in my stomach, cleaning up, and getting ready to watch Cam unleash his fury on Sugar Bottom and the competition.

I knew his main competition would be Brian Eppen, a local pro rider. Cam said Brian had a bit of an advantage, as he rides at Sugar Bottom on a regular basis and knows the trails well. But I also knew that Cam is having a great year and was fresh off an incredible 10th place finish at Chequamegon last weekend. This was going to be a fun battle to watch unfold!

I watched the expert and sport classes take off, then wandered over to Cyclocross Hill to see how things would play out on lap one. After about 40 minutes, we hear someone on the far side of the hill tell us there are riders coming. I see Brian cruise to the top of the hill, with Cam in tow about 15 seconds back. So far, so good. The top ten or so guys are able to top the hill without dismounting, but then the fun starts for the spectators! We cheer, encourage, sometimes even attempt to *will* people up and over the top. Most don't quite make it. I enjoyed watching Kent (on a singlespeed) easily zip past an expert (on a geared bike) who barely made it half way before having to hike it. Rather than risk poison ivy by hiking through the woods in search of another vantage point, I stayed put at the hill and cheered and chatted with some of the other fans.

Pretty soon, it was time to start looking for Cam and Brian again. This time Cam was right on Brian's wheel! I screamed some encouragement, then took off for the start/finish line in case Cam needed a hand-up. I also wanted to have a look around for Amy and Kennan, since they were supposed to be driving up for Cam's race, but I didn't see them before the start. Cam was still glued to Brian's wheel when they came through, and both guys looked like they were working pretty hard.

Not seeing Amy and Kennan, I headed back to watch lap three on the hill. I expected it to be another close lap, but when the time was right, all I saw was Cam coming up the hill with Brian nowhere in sight! Cam had to take some evasive action on the way up the hill to avoid a tangle with some lap traffic, but made it through without any trouble.

I screamed something again, and was so fired up at that point, I didn't stick around long enough to see how far back Brian was; I just took off in a dead sprint to the finish line!

A few minutes later, Cam crossed the finish line, looking pretty beat, but thankful for the win! It turns out that Brian had his own altercation with his saddle a couple of times during the race, and that might have contributed to some slower than usual lap times for him, but a win is a win! Soon enough, I saw Amy and Kennan, so we hung out and watched Kennan practice walking on the uneven surfaces while Cam sucked down his post-race nutrition and took a cool-down spin.

Kennan enjoyed her uncle's funny faces and getting to play with the acorns and sticks, and Amy and I enjoyed the beautiful day. Post-race was spent rehashing the day with everyone, taking some more pics, and Cam and I splitting a tall-boy of MGD. What more can a girl ask for?

Late in the afternoon we left Sugar Bottom in search of food and more ice cream in Iowa City. We had the most amazing burritos at the Atlas - these things were to die for: buffalo chicken, mashed potatoes, celery and carrots, wow! Though stuffed, we walked to the ped mall for another Whitey's shake, but this time we each had our own!