Wow - what a race!
Webcyclery put on a great event here in Bend, and there were TONS of people there! I was amazed at the number of women! It started with a grassy loop and then we headed up a pretty steep paved hill, across a sandy lot, down a section of sidewalk and along a grassy hill. Then there was singletrack with a log drop off and two tall barriers. Then immediately after the barriers there was a steep sandy hike-a-bike and a loose downhill corner followed by hardpacked BUMPY stuff and 3 log barriers.
I got a great start and held second place the entire race. I was able to do that well based on fitness alone, cuz I AIN'T GOT NO SKILLS. I was on my mountain bike so all the grass and paved sections were extremely hard on my wide knobby tires. :angry: Second time into the tall barriers I hit my front tire and almost went down on the second one. :mumble: Then a few laps later I failed to get unclipped fast enough, and almost biffed it on the logs. I have a few deep bruises on my right elbow from hitting it on the bike while carrying it over stuff.
I definitely have the fitness to go hard the 60 minutes of the race, but I would lose at least 10 seconds every remount. I just can't do the jumping remount smoothly enough. Seems like I almost come to a standstill unless it's flat. I will just have to practice though. I know the theory of HOW to do it, now I just have to do it.
I got passed by Steve Larsen!
Webcyclery put on a great event here in Bend, and there were TONS of people there! I was amazed at the number of women! It started with a grassy loop and then we headed up a pretty steep paved hill, across a sandy lot, down a section of sidewalk and along a grassy hill. Then there was singletrack with a log drop off and two tall barriers. Then immediately after the barriers there was a steep sandy hike-a-bike and a loose downhill corner followed by hardpacked BUMPY stuff and 3 log barriers.
I got a great start and held second place the entire race. I was able to do that well based on fitness alone, cuz I AIN'T GOT NO SKILLS. I was on my mountain bike so all the grass and paved sections were extremely hard on my wide knobby tires. :angry: Second time into the tall barriers I hit my front tire and almost went down on the second one. :mumble: Then a few laps later I failed to get unclipped fast enough, and almost biffed it on the logs. I have a few deep bruises on my right elbow from hitting it on the bike while carrying it over stuff.
I definitely have the fitness to go hard the 60 minutes of the race, but I would lose at least 10 seconds every remount. I just can't do the jumping remount smoothly enough. Seems like I almost come to a standstill unless it's flat. I will just have to practice though. I know the theory of HOW to do it, now I just have to do it.
I got passed by Steve Larsen!
