
But the season had been going well, and I was looking forward to racing this course since I used to regularly train there when I first started racing bikes and worked in Jersey.
It only took me 25 minutes to get to GCC. No traffic. I set up the trainer under a tree on the course right near where my "feed zone" would be, and started my warm up. Yes, the sucky thing about XC is I have to warm up, with a road bike, trainer, and powertap. It's a pain to lug all that but there is not getting around it.
When I got to the line we all realized that the competition was in 40+, the only young chicks racing were Kathleen Harding, Carolyn Popovic, and Deborah Leedale, who ended up DNFing. Katherine and Carolyn could fight it out for first place. So I started out fast, and about a quarter of the way through the lap a photographer told me I was a minute off the leaders. It felt good to fly, but I knew I would have to settle in a bit, which I did, and Andrea & Lisa were on my tail when I was going down a drop too fast and crashed hard. Endoed actually, I have no idea why. I lost 2 places, shook it off and got back on my bike.
Anyway, I had the second fastest first lap in my class, behind the winner Lauri Webber. I dropped 2 minutes between my first and second, but at least held it there for 2 more laps. So I have the endurance, just need to be able to hold the speed. Ended up 5th, won a few bucks, and felt really good about it. The best part was only having to do 4 laps. Are you kidding me? To be done a race in 2 hours and 19 minutes? And actually get paid cash for placing? I could get used to this again.
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