Labor Day and MFG #1 Race reports

Labor Day Cross race and the first MFG Series race are now under my belt. Two races down and so far a bit of bad luck at both races.

At the Labor Day race I was really excited to be back racing cross again after a long summer. I have been teaching Cross Bootcamp at Cycle U and really was feeling nice and strong and ready for a great race. I lined up on the line and was a bit nervous because it was the first cross race of the season, needed to work all the bugs out with my body and my bike. The gun went off and I got a great start, right into my pedal and off I went. Unfortunately about 100 yards into the start I hit a rock very hard and flatted my front tire. Luckily I was able to still ride, a bit slower, and I got to the pits for a fast bike exchange, thank you Gino! I had fallen back to about the middle of the field and started to kick it in to make a comeback. I got a little too confident and had a little crash in a turn so I told myself to relax a bit and regain control of my bike. So I did and everything started going great. I managed to come back and finish in the 4th spot with 3rd only 10 sec ahead of me. So overall a good day. It was fun just trying to see how far I could get back up into the field.

MFG Series #1 Finn Hill Park. This race was a lot better. Still some bad luck overall better. I started on the line with a huge Cat 1-2 Women’s field, great to see, and again I got my pedal right away and was off. I fell into 2nd off the start and stayed there for the first lap. The girl in 1st had a mechanical so I passed her and went into 1st. Another girl passed me on the 2nd lap and I went back into 2nd, but hung on. That girl got a flat tire so again I was in 1st. I started to really get a good gap on the 2nd place girl but with 2 laps to go I hit a big rock in this dip into single track section and got a rear flat tire. Again I was able to keep riding, a lot slower, and I made it back to the pits. Unfortunately I got passed again while I was entering the pits, I had a fast wheel change, thank you Gino again, and was back on the course. Unfortunately I couldn’t make the gap back up and held onto 2nd place. So the moral of all of this is to never give up. No matter what always keep on trying and do everything you can to finish, because you never know what can happen!!

Kristi Berg