Friday, December 10, 2010

Nationals race update

Well Nationals are over for me. It wasn't as good as I had hoped but I did race and was able to even though I broke my hand just 3 weeks ago! Thank you Dr. Weil and Kelly!! I didn't even know 3 weeks ago if I was going to be able to ride let alone race and I did it!

It was cold with lots of peanut butter mud and big cold mud puddles. I wore more clothes then any race this year and I was perfect for temp. My feet got cold towards the end but really overall no major issues with the cold. I think it was a high of 40 degrees today with about 15-20mile hour winds so with the wind chill it was really cold.

I warmed up under Todd Andersons tent. Thank you Todd for always showing up so early to get a good spot! I got to the start about 10min before the race start. My call up wasn't so good because of my not so good TT the day before. I was on the 3rd of 4 rows of girls. We took off and right at the start the girls on each side of me came into me and I had to hit the brakes. I wasn't going to fall with my hand so that set me back to 25th position right off the start. Then we turned onto this hard mud section that everyone was just riding all over the place. I got stuck behind a lot of girls and had to slow down, no choice there. I was watching the front group just walk away. It was frustrating but what can you do, that is racing.


So I decided to just put my head down and use my technical skills to pass girls. I got a couple right away and then started getting one or 2 girls every lap. I was making good ground but could only get up to 17th. I was frustrated, but very happy that I could just be out there racing.

My hand hurt a bit, not the broken bone but my wrist got sore from being in the brace and my overall strength was weak at times and boy was it hard to pick up my bike over the barriers and stairs. But overall a good day, I am on a redemption though for next year so watch out ladies, I am going to come back stronger and healthy next year!!



Thank you to everyone that supported me over the season and at the race today. I heard so many people cheering and it was inspirational!

Holden raced at 9:30am this morning and boy was it cold. He was so nervous again. He had a good start but was off the back and started getting cold. There was this huge mud puddle that totally soaked his feet and he started crying. He was so cold. We just encouraged him to finish and not worry about where he finished. He was so concerned because he was last and I just tried to tell him how proud we were of him. He hung in there and pushed through and finished the race. He ended up in 20th place in the Junior 10-12 year olds. I can't tell you how proud of him I am, he really pushed through a hard mental place today and grew up a little more. What a great kid!!

Ok now it's time for a break from riding for a few weeks, I will hit the gym and try to build up all the muscle I have lost and get ready for this MTB season.


Kristi

Nationals update

We have been in Bend OR now since Wed. The weather has been pretty decent with mostly blue sky's but the temps are below freezing at night and there is a couple inches of snow on the ground in most places so the early races and TT's have been on frozen mud ruts or ice.

Holden and myself raced our TT's yesterday. The TT's are new this year, the idea is to use the TT times to call people up by fastest to slowest on race day. But the TT course it at a different location then the race and it is covered in snow and frozen. Where the race course is all mud.

Holden went first in the morning, he was so nervous!! I was nervous to because it was really icy and I didn't want him to fall and get hurt or loose confidence. He had a couple moments where I thought he wasn't going to ride it, but he bucked up and did it. I was so impressed, he took off and was looking awesome. There was this spot that was a shorter downhill section that he was going to run but in the race he rode it and looked awesome!! They had the little guys just do a very short course which was a great idea. He came through the finish and said he thought he was going to throw up and that he couldn't breath. I told him that is what racing at altitude does. We were so very proud of him!! He finished in 13th place in the TT out of 20kids so he will get a 2nd row start this morning in his race.



I started the TT and I was doing good. But I am not a great short distance all out TTist so I knew this was going to hurt and it did!! About half way through there is a false flat section that goes into a run up covered in snow. I pretty much dies there!! My legs and lungs just couldn't handle the short hard effort. I pushed the best I could but lost some time and finished 11th out of 19 girls that did the TT. There are about 30-35 girls registered in my race so a lot of them opted out of the TT so that will give me a better starting position for today's race. I race today at 2:15pm and will let everyone know how it goes. If my legs are with me and my hand let's me go hard I think I will do really well on this course, it is really muddy and very technical which suits my riding style.

It poured down rain last night so it will be even more technical today.

Kristi