Jingle Cross Rocking - Day One
Here's my point-of-view from the weekend. Friday afternoon I picked up (dis) and the Little Guy and we loaded up the Echo for the drive down to Iowa. When we got to the Comfort Suites, we were just in time to see Chris Horner leaving, but that wasn't really a problem, Super Rookie just asked him for his autograph during the race the next day. I then made my way over to Hollywood's parents' house. He had set up a sweet guest-pad where I stayed with him and the Peace Coffee girls - Kristi and Jackie. The Hendersens were great. They didn't mind having some girls around for a bit, and they even came out to the races both days and cheered us on.
Saturday morning it was off to the races, starting at 9:30. My race wasn't until 1:30, so I got to hang out and watch all the other races first and check out the course. It was a really cool course, with some straight grassy sections, some good corners, a couple sets of triple barriers, a short run-up with a barrier at the bottom, a longish, rideable climb, some little mud holes, a screamin' steep bumpy downhill, and a ride through a sandy barn. And there was this little lip where you could get a bunch of air - that was my favorite part of each lap. We started the race with 18 or so women, about half of which got called up for one reason or another. I wasn't one of them, AND I didn't register early, so I was in pretty much the worst starting position. Bummer!
We started out really fast, and I managed to work my way through a lot of the field on the first half a lap. I pretty much buried myself to catch up with the lead group, but then I fell off them and rode by myself in 8th place. I was riding pretty crappy on some parts - I guess that's what happens after a weekend off. I managed to crash before one set of barriers when I tripped over my own feet, crashed again when I slid out on a downhill corner, and I had trouble riding the mud until I decided to just run it. Other parts were good - the sand was rideable and really fun - it went through a sandy barn aisle and then around a little corner out over a decent sized lip. Every time I rode out of the sand, Hollywood was standing there yelling, "You OWN the sandpit! You OWN it!" The one time I didn't make it through, no one was watching anyway, so that's good.
Aside from the little lip, the crazy bumpy downhill was probably my favorite part. I spent some time watching the 3/4 men ride it before my race. The top four guys in that field were barreling down, no brakes, but after that most of the guys were a bit more cautious. The first couple of laps, I erred on the side of caution, feathering my brakes and keeping the bike solidly under control. Then I noticed that the 9th place woman was gaining a little bit of ground on me with each lap, so I decided to make up time where I could and just stop using my brakes. At the top of the hill, I got down into my drops and just hung on tight with both hands. THAT was fun! And I managed to stay ahead of the other woman after that.
Sunday's race report coming soon....
Saturday morning it was off to the races, starting at 9:30. My race wasn't until 1:30, so I got to hang out and watch all the other races first and check out the course. It was a really cool course, with some straight grassy sections, some good corners, a couple sets of triple barriers, a short run-up with a barrier at the bottom, a longish, rideable climb, some little mud holes, a screamin' steep bumpy downhill, and a ride through a sandy barn. And there was this little lip where you could get a bunch of air - that was my favorite part of each lap. We started the race with 18 or so women, about half of which got called up for one reason or another. I wasn't one of them, AND I didn't register early, so I was in pretty much the worst starting position. Bummer!
We started out really fast, and I managed to work my way through a lot of the field on the first half a lap. I pretty much buried myself to catch up with the lead group, but then I fell off them and rode by myself in 8th place. I was riding pretty crappy on some parts - I guess that's what happens after a weekend off. I managed to crash before one set of barriers when I tripped over my own feet, crashed again when I slid out on a downhill corner, and I had trouble riding the mud until I decided to just run it. Other parts were good - the sand was rideable and really fun - it went through a sandy barn aisle and then around a little corner out over a decent sized lip. Every time I rode out of the sand, Hollywood was standing there yelling, "You OWN the sandpit! You OWN it!" The one time I didn't make it through, no one was watching anyway, so that's good.
Aside from the little lip, the crazy bumpy downhill was probably my favorite part. I spent some time watching the 3/4 men ride it before my race. The top four guys in that field were barreling down, no brakes, but after that most of the guys were a bit more cautious. The first couple of laps, I erred on the side of caution, feathering my brakes and keeping the bike solidly under control. Then I noticed that the 9th place woman was gaining a little bit of ground on me with each lap, so I decided to make up time where I could and just stop using my brakes. At the top of the hill, I got down into my drops and just hung on tight with both hands. THAT was fun! And I managed to stay ahead of the other woman after that.
Sunday's race report coming soon....
posted by karla at 8:58 PM
3 Comments:
no brakes = insane.
(this coming from a former brakeless san franciso bike messenger).
I never said it was sane. It was just the only way I could think of to make up time on the woman chasing me without actually working harder.
crazy.
i seriously considered running down.
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