I haven't raced XC since a few months after I learned to ride - back in 2000, I think.
And then I got into DH and heavy trail bikes and the thought of racing uphill was just... ugh. But I bought the pink SS, thinking it would be a good training tool and what do you know - I love riding it. I've been on it 3 days a week or so since I got it (plus riding my other bikes) and have been feeling pretty good. A few girls I know convinced me to race a 4 person 12 hour race next month and we went out and practiced the course and what do you know - I'm not the slow person climbing anymore. When the heck did that happen?
So after the fun on Monday of racing the Super D on my SS, I decided to do the Wednesday night XC race. I wasn't sure what class to race, but figured Sport would be a good start. The sport guys headed off a minute before us, and the sport women and beginner men were the last group to start. The beginning of the race is just a steep road climb up the mountain. On the SS, I couldn't pedal most of it seated and settled into the most relaxed standing climb I could. I quickly pulled away from the group I started with and was working my way through the people who started ahead of me when we hit the singletrack.
So Lesson #1 that I learned - I need to be more aggressive with passing. We started on a switchback descent and I was stuck behind a guy meaning I was riding the brakes through it all. I just wasn't sure if he was going to need to pass me back when we got back to climbing, but he got sick of me riding his wheel and told me to pass. (Thank you to all the nice people putting up with me
) Repeat that a few times on the climbs with me becoming a little more confident as I went on that I'd be okay to keep my pace if I passed people. (And kicking out that lazy gremlin whispering in my ear that if I stay behind this nice slower person I can rest instead of chasing the next person ahead of him...)
I ended up with two little switchback climbs that I couldn't make it up in my gear, but I managed to grind out the rest. And the one flat-ish doubletrack section (of about 100 yards) I needed a bigger gear for. But otherwise the SS was perfect. The trails converged again where the expert and sport courses came back together and I jumped in behind a pro girl on a 29er. The descent is fast, fun, and long, and she was stuck behind someone and we were just cruising downhill. She dropped me for a minute on the little switchback climb (one of those where I had to get off and run), but I caught right back up on the descent. And then we cruised on down to the finish. (Makes me feel really slow thinking she fit an extra mile and a half or so in that 2 minutes she started ahead of me!)
Anyway, it was a really short loop. Only 6 miles or something. But really fun. And I guess lesson #2 is that I'm not nearly as slow climbing as I think I am.
I
think that I won. I didn't see any other women in the finish area other than the pro I finished with, but they didn't get the times together before they did giveaways and we all left. It was fun even without knowing the results.
To complete my week of crazy-ness, I'm planning to race the ICUP race on Saturday, and then the DH race at Bountiful (though that one will NOT be on the SS.
), for a grand total of 4 races in 7 days. Woohoo!