That race is cool as hell. I had a blast again this year and attendance was up about 45 people over last year they said. That's great for the second year of the event and let's hope it continues to grow.
It was foggy and cold for the start but I forced a little warm up. The course is 12 miles with 4500' of elevation loss and 500' of climbing. I was the first of 3 pro women to start and off I went. It starts on a fast double track traverse that I hammered right until the base of the climb. There I tried to settle into a fast pace and keep my cadence up and my head down. I was going as hard as I could to make up some time and passed quite a few guys on that climb. Into the swoopy flowy traverse section I kept it clean and tried to pedal any time I had the chance.
Next up is the 4ish mile fireroad section with lots of corners. I came into a couple of them too hot and had to brake hard and scrubbed too much speed but stood and hammered out of them the best I could. I hit the true DH part of the course and felt great with no problems...passed a few more guys there. Next is the rolling part of the course and I did my best to keep pedaling hard. I passed one more guy in the lower DH section and that's where I went into conservative mode. That part is loose and really twisty with plenty of room for error and to fly off a cliff. I felt pretty good about my run but you never know.
1st place by 8 seconds!
And better than that, I beat my time by at least 2 minutes. 
Great event, I even won money! Everyone I went with improved their time over last year so it was an overall success.
It was foggy and cold for the start but I forced a little warm up. The course is 12 miles with 4500' of elevation loss and 500' of climbing. I was the first of 3 pro women to start and off I went. It starts on a fast double track traverse that I hammered right until the base of the climb. There I tried to settle into a fast pace and keep my cadence up and my head down. I was going as hard as I could to make up some time and passed quite a few guys on that climb. Into the swoopy flowy traverse section I kept it clean and tried to pedal any time I had the chance.
Next up is the 4ish mile fireroad section with lots of corners. I came into a couple of them too hot and had to brake hard and scrubbed too much speed but stood and hammered out of them the best I could. I hit the true DH part of the course and felt great with no problems...passed a few more guys there. Next is the rolling part of the course and I did my best to keep pedaling hard. I passed one more guy in the lower DH section and that's where I went into conservative mode. That part is loose and really twisty with plenty of room for error and to fly off a cliff. I felt pretty good about my run but you never know.
1st place by 8 seconds!
And better than that, I beat my time by at least 2 minutes. Great event, I even won money! Everyone I went with improved their time over last year so it was an overall success.
