The amazing weather continued, and as race time neared it was in the low 70s! In November! Awesome! The beginner race took quite a bit longer than I think anyone predicted, so the main race got underway about 20 minutes late. There was a great turnout for the event.
Jan started things off for our team, I waited for her to come into transition, then it was my turn to hit the gas! We did four laps of Rollercoaster and the hillside. It starts off with a good climb (basically you go from sitting still in transition directly into the red zone), a couple of ups and downs, then the water crossing, my nemesis. It is a quick, easy stream crossing followed by a little up-down-and-turnaround that I had trouble getting figured out. There was so much congestion on lap one that almost everyone around me had to bail off their bikes and do a hike-a-bike up the switchbacks that follow.
As the lap progressed, traffic started to space out a little more evenly. I passed a few guys, and a few guys passed me. It didn’t take me too long to realize that there weren’t many females riding bikes that day. I think there may have only been two of us on relays and maybe five or six doing the event solo.
It took a whole lap for me to really get things dialed in, and after that, though still pretty painful, I started to have some fun. On lap two I got to the water crossing and nearly made it, but I ended up having to unclip to avoid another rider who didn’t quite make it. I got clipped back in and worked my way up the switchbacks and nearly made it all the way. Oh well, there is always the next lap!
The proudest shining moment of my entire athletic career came in the middle of hillside on lap two. I pedaled up behind a rider who was really struggling with the whole mountain bike riding thing. It turned out to be TJ Tollakson, a pro triathlete known for his cycling prowess! Not only did I catch him, but I whizzed right past him and never looked back. There aren’t too many people who can say they’ve beat TJ in a bike race, but I can! Though I passed a professional triathlete, I also spent much of lap two getting lapped by the leaders in the midst of their third lap. Cam, Andy, Kent, and a few others came whipping past me and all offered some encouragement as they went.
On lap three, I was more determined to do better on this little water crossing. This time I finally made it across the water portion but got in trouble a couple of times on the climb out. So close! I knew now what it would take to make it all the way, so I was actually glad that I was gonna get one more shot at it.
When I came around to the start/finish line to start the fourth and final lap, I was again greeted by Jeff and Liz who’d been cheering there on every lap. Cam had finished and passed off to Kristy to finish their repeat victory, and he was there cheering with them. I chugged my way up the hill one last time to begin lap four. As I made my way down to that darn water crossing, I could see Cam waiting to see how I’d do. I had no other racers to contend with, so I just went for it. It wasn’t necessarily pretty or fast, but I kept at it and cleared the water and the whole climb! Cam was cheering like crazy and his excitement soon had some of the other spectators cheering me on as well.
Cam showed up at a couple other spots to cheer on lap four. As that final lap progressed so did my enjoyment of the event. I’d been out there riding for over 90 minutes, but was having so much fun, I really didn’t want it to end right away! Soon enough, though, I was climbing back to the transition area to pass off to Jan for her final run portion. She ran a strong finish leg to end our race. Although we didn’t set any land-speed records, we did pretty well for a couple of girls!
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