Sorry for the delayed submission! Here's my 4x race from a couple weeks ago.
The Bruise Chronicles: 07 Fontana Nationals - Mountain Cross
Summary: Girls, 4x, and a hard-fought 2nd place trophy. Grrrrr!!!
Fontana, CA
Friday, May 4, 2007
Mountain cross! What a great course! Designed and sculpted by Eric Carter, every corner had its own unique challenge, whether you were on the inside or the outside of the turn. You could take the inside and contend with the tight turn and strategically placed single jump, or go wide and take the sweeping berm that sets you up for a huge double. I saw more than one person in 3rd or 4th place enter the lower corner of the course on the inside, cutting off the 1st place racer who positioned himself on the outside to take advantage of the berm. Throughout the races, no matter who was out front, while the race was on, it was anybody's win.
My qualifier is on Friday afternoon. This year, all amateur women are combined into one category. This is good for having competition and someone to race with, but not so good for the beginners who are racing the experts.
When I hear that we are 5 women, one of whom is about eleven years old, I go to the NORBA officials to bring it to their attention. I tell the guy at registration my concern that 1) NORBA rules state that Masters do not race Juniors; 2) there are five women, one of whom will be cut, and that odds are it will be the eleven-year-old; 3) we should be doing everything we can to encourage women and Juniors in racing, and that throwing Juniors into the mix with Experts and Masters is not the way to do it. I suggest we have an Open Women over 20 and an Open Women 19 and under.
The guy at registration hears my suggestion, agrees with me, and elevates the question to the second NORBA official, who also agrees with me, and radios the head NORBA official. Soon the three of us are discussing the issue and the head NORBA official is consulting his rule book, telling me that the "Masters don't race Juniors" rule is in place for cross-country, not gravity. Donnie Jackson, the race organizer, sees our huddle and joins in the discussion. He suggests that we take all five women to the finals and run two motos: two women, then three women. The NORBA official frowns. I infer that his frown means: this is the Nationals. We don't change the rules to suit the situation. Donnie disagrees, "We do it here all the time. It's never an issue "
But evidently today the integrity of the rule book is more important than the racer. They will have all five of us, ranging in age from eleven to forty, race against each other in one category.
When I first started racing, I was lined up in the 4x gate at Sea Otter next to a twelve-year-old girl with whom I'd been practicing the course most of the morning. I was 37. She qualified just ahead of me, and had lane choice. Although she beat me out of the gate, I beat her to the berm and went to occupy the "ideal line" when I saw her out of the corner of my eye attempting to take the same line. I felt her on my elbow and the thought flashed through my brain that I could either take the line and let her crash or back off and let her win. And that's the trouble with racing juniors: if you win, you're a bully; if you lose, you're weak. I backed off, and she advanced. Although I was told, "Well, evidently you didn't want to win she knew what she was doing when she lined up in the gate with someone twice her age and size," it's not quite that simple.
I return to the mountain cross course, where practice is still going on, and see Rachel finishing a practice run with her dad. The girl can't be 4'10"; I don't know how she can ride a 26"-wheeled mountain bike, but she does. She exits the course and looks back at her dad, "C'mon! Let's do another run!"
At 4pm, we make our way to the top of the hill for the qualifying run. Mine goes pretty well. Our qualifying results look like this:
RANK__BIB #____NAME_________AGE____CITY, STATE_________SPONSOR
1___792_____MARTHA SALDANA___19___SO EL MONTE, CA USA
2___746_____LAURA DREXLER____40___SAN DIEGO, CA USA___NO BRAKES
3___606_____JEN MCNIVEN______20___SAN JOSE, CA USA
4___754_____JANNA RENFRO_____26___AUSTIN, TX USA
5___910_____RACHEL MYDOC____11___GLENDALE, AZ USA____SANTA CRUZ JR
They take four of us to the finals, and as I suspected, eleven-year-old Rachel is cut.
Our race is at 6pm. I see Jill Kitner on the hill filming the amateurs. I say hello and she asks me how the quals went. I tell her I qualified second, and that the 1st place girl, Martha is a BMX-er who's raced mountain cross only a couple times. She smiles, "So she won't know how to shift," she tells me, giving me the secret to my edge in this race. We discuss the course, and she reminds me that races are won in the corners. I should write this on the inside of my helmet, because I don't remember it as often as I should.
Just before the race, I discuss gate lane choice with Alejandro, a racer there who looks like he knows what he's doing. They start calling the women, and we line up. I get the lane I want, even though I don't get first choice. I shift into a good sprinting gear, adjust my goggles, push my front tire against the gate, and clip in. I focus on a random spot in front of me in the dirt and relax my arms to balance on the bike, standing on my pedals, waiting for the man to call out, "Riders ready. Seven seconds " indicating that the gate will drop any time in the next seven seconds. Thinking that I don't practice this gate thing nearly as often as I should, I tell myself to breathe, and I hear the man call " seven seconds ", hear the loud snap and slam of the gate crashing against the dirt. I lunge forward and sprint out of the gate, shifting once I reach the tabletop, pedaling for all I'm worth to reach the berm first. The four of us arrive at the apex in a wad, and I spot the next corner, where I plan to cut to the inside and hopefully cut off my competition.
I sprint to the next corner, soaking up the rollers as best I can and cutting to the inside of the turn. I can feel someone on my right elbow, and see her out of the corner of my eye. They're all over nineteen, so I'm not racing any juniors, and I have no trouble using my elbow to let the girl know I have no intention of backing off. Martha is now a bike length ahead of me, but I have come through the corner and do not see the other two girls in my peripheral vision. I focus on pushing ahead to chase down Martha. Across the last set of rollers and into a sharp right hand turn, Martha is now two bike lengths ahead of me as I struggle to catch her. My legs are on fire, and I tell myself that it will all be over in just a few more seconds as I stand and pedal to the finish.
We cross the line, Marta clearly in front, then me, then Janna and Jen. I'm elated with my effort, and pretty proud of a second place finish. Post-race assessment tells me I need to work on my high-speed cornering skills if I'm going to keep up with this pack. It was a really good race.
Mountain cross is somewhat intimidating for women, for whatever reason, and we always suffer from a small field of riders. It's discouraging to sign up for a race and have so few people to race against. Likewise, it's pretty discouraging to have so few riders in the field, yet be cut because you're not part of a quartet.
My friend Kimber just moved up to pro this season, and chose to throw her hat in the ring with all the seasoned pro women 4x riders. After the pro mountain cross qualifiers, I see her and ask how her 4x quals went. She frowns. She didn't do so well, she says. They only took eight. It's disappointing, and can be discouraging. I remind her of the facts. "Kimber," I tell her, "this is your first season as a pro. Don't forget that you qualified way ahead of all those girls who were too scared to sign up " A smile slowly spreads across her face and she nods, "Yeah. Yeah, I did."
Kudos to the racers who come out and give it everything they've got and walk away smiling, regardless of the outcome, knowing that they've made a good effort. See you at the races!
race report by Laura Drexler
The Bruise Chronicles: 07 Fontana Nationals - Mountain Cross
Summary: Girls, 4x, and a hard-fought 2nd place trophy. Grrrrr!!!
Fontana, CA
Friday, May 4, 2007
Mountain cross! What a great course! Designed and sculpted by Eric Carter, every corner had its own unique challenge, whether you were on the inside or the outside of the turn. You could take the inside and contend with the tight turn and strategically placed single jump, or go wide and take the sweeping berm that sets you up for a huge double. I saw more than one person in 3rd or 4th place enter the lower corner of the course on the inside, cutting off the 1st place racer who positioned himself on the outside to take advantage of the berm. Throughout the races, no matter who was out front, while the race was on, it was anybody's win.
My qualifier is on Friday afternoon. This year, all amateur women are combined into one category. This is good for having competition and someone to race with, but not so good for the beginners who are racing the experts.
When I hear that we are 5 women, one of whom is about eleven years old, I go to the NORBA officials to bring it to their attention. I tell the guy at registration my concern that 1) NORBA rules state that Masters do not race Juniors; 2) there are five women, one of whom will be cut, and that odds are it will be the eleven-year-old; 3) we should be doing everything we can to encourage women and Juniors in racing, and that throwing Juniors into the mix with Experts and Masters is not the way to do it. I suggest we have an Open Women over 20 and an Open Women 19 and under.
The guy at registration hears my suggestion, agrees with me, and elevates the question to the second NORBA official, who also agrees with me, and radios the head NORBA official. Soon the three of us are discussing the issue and the head NORBA official is consulting his rule book, telling me that the "Masters don't race Juniors" rule is in place for cross-country, not gravity. Donnie Jackson, the race organizer, sees our huddle and joins in the discussion. He suggests that we take all five women to the finals and run two motos: two women, then three women. The NORBA official frowns. I infer that his frown means: this is the Nationals. We don't change the rules to suit the situation. Donnie disagrees, "We do it here all the time. It's never an issue "
But evidently today the integrity of the rule book is more important than the racer. They will have all five of us, ranging in age from eleven to forty, race against each other in one category.
When I first started racing, I was lined up in the 4x gate at Sea Otter next to a twelve-year-old girl with whom I'd been practicing the course most of the morning. I was 37. She qualified just ahead of me, and had lane choice. Although she beat me out of the gate, I beat her to the berm and went to occupy the "ideal line" when I saw her out of the corner of my eye attempting to take the same line. I felt her on my elbow and the thought flashed through my brain that I could either take the line and let her crash or back off and let her win. And that's the trouble with racing juniors: if you win, you're a bully; if you lose, you're weak. I backed off, and she advanced. Although I was told, "Well, evidently you didn't want to win she knew what she was doing when she lined up in the gate with someone twice her age and size," it's not quite that simple.
I return to the mountain cross course, where practice is still going on, and see Rachel finishing a practice run with her dad. The girl can't be 4'10"; I don't know how she can ride a 26"-wheeled mountain bike, but she does. She exits the course and looks back at her dad, "C'mon! Let's do another run!"
At 4pm, we make our way to the top of the hill for the qualifying run. Mine goes pretty well. Our qualifying results look like this:
RANK__BIB #____NAME_________AGE____CITY, STATE_________SPONSOR
1___792_____MARTHA SALDANA___19___SO EL MONTE, CA USA
2___746_____LAURA DREXLER____40___SAN DIEGO, CA USA___NO BRAKES
3___606_____JEN MCNIVEN______20___SAN JOSE, CA USA
4___754_____JANNA RENFRO_____26___AUSTIN, TX USA
5___910_____RACHEL MYDOC____11___GLENDALE, AZ USA____SANTA CRUZ JR
They take four of us to the finals, and as I suspected, eleven-year-old Rachel is cut.
Our race is at 6pm. I see Jill Kitner on the hill filming the amateurs. I say hello and she asks me how the quals went. I tell her I qualified second, and that the 1st place girl, Martha is a BMX-er who's raced mountain cross only a couple times. She smiles, "So she won't know how to shift," she tells me, giving me the secret to my edge in this race. We discuss the course, and she reminds me that races are won in the corners. I should write this on the inside of my helmet, because I don't remember it as often as I should.
Just before the race, I discuss gate lane choice with Alejandro, a racer there who looks like he knows what he's doing. They start calling the women, and we line up. I get the lane I want, even though I don't get first choice. I shift into a good sprinting gear, adjust my goggles, push my front tire against the gate, and clip in. I focus on a random spot in front of me in the dirt and relax my arms to balance on the bike, standing on my pedals, waiting for the man to call out, "Riders ready. Seven seconds " indicating that the gate will drop any time in the next seven seconds. Thinking that I don't practice this gate thing nearly as often as I should, I tell myself to breathe, and I hear the man call " seven seconds ", hear the loud snap and slam of the gate crashing against the dirt. I lunge forward and sprint out of the gate, shifting once I reach the tabletop, pedaling for all I'm worth to reach the berm first. The four of us arrive at the apex in a wad, and I spot the next corner, where I plan to cut to the inside and hopefully cut off my competition.
I sprint to the next corner, soaking up the rollers as best I can and cutting to the inside of the turn. I can feel someone on my right elbow, and see her out of the corner of my eye. They're all over nineteen, so I'm not racing any juniors, and I have no trouble using my elbow to let the girl know I have no intention of backing off. Martha is now a bike length ahead of me, but I have come through the corner and do not see the other two girls in my peripheral vision. I focus on pushing ahead to chase down Martha. Across the last set of rollers and into a sharp right hand turn, Martha is now two bike lengths ahead of me as I struggle to catch her. My legs are on fire, and I tell myself that it will all be over in just a few more seconds as I stand and pedal to the finish.
We cross the line, Marta clearly in front, then me, then Janna and Jen. I'm elated with my effort, and pretty proud of a second place finish. Post-race assessment tells me I need to work on my high-speed cornering skills if I'm going to keep up with this pack. It was a really good race.
Mountain cross is somewhat intimidating for women, for whatever reason, and we always suffer from a small field of riders. It's discouraging to sign up for a race and have so few people to race against. Likewise, it's pretty discouraging to have so few riders in the field, yet be cut because you're not part of a quartet.
My friend Kimber just moved up to pro this season, and chose to throw her hat in the ring with all the seasoned pro women 4x riders. After the pro mountain cross qualifiers, I see her and ask how her 4x quals went. She frowns. She didn't do so well, she says. They only took eight. It's disappointing, and can be discouraging. I remind her of the facts. "Kimber," I tell her, "this is your first season as a pro. Don't forget that you qualified way ahead of all those girls who were too scared to sign up " A smile slowly spreads across her face and she nods, "Yeah. Yeah, I did."
Kudos to the racers who come out and give it everything they've got and walk away smiling, regardless of the outcome, knowing that they've made a good effort. See you at the races!
race report by Laura Drexler
AWESOME report and well worth the wait. I am amazed that they let an 11 year old race the rest of you...quite a time to stand by the rules? Congratulations on the 2nd place finish 
