damn. it’s june already. time flies. WORS #3 is gone. phuck.
i had never done the rome around race before. for some reason i was getting all nervous about it at the beginning of the week. how ghey is that? when I’d think about the weekend my stomach would get all jittery… i think i asked everyone a few times each, “so what’s the course like?” i think sara was going to kill me on our girly ride the Wednesday before. Every section of singletrack we hit, i’d ask her “is this like rome around?”
my stomach seemed to settle towards the end of the week.
for a more detailed report of the going ons before the race click here.
got to the event. i wasn't really nervous. we started to set up and my stomach was grumbling. I had to go. It was like a freakin' 1/2 mile walk to the toilets. worst walk of my life. i made it. then the walk back. i started to get ready once I got back... clothes, shoes and helmet... fuck, where's my number. okay, got my number. fuck, i forgot gels. got gels. dammit, where are my sunglasses. found 'em. how many times have i done this? check tire pressure and fork pressure. my tires were way too full for the preride the day before and my shock was too. i didn't want to fuck with my shock, i could deal with it. my tires were like 22 psi from the day before- i let air out on the trail. i shoulda left it but i was afraid i'd pinch flat. i'm not running tubeless anymore so i'm a wuss. rode around for a bit with beth. noticed my handlebar had moved. rookie. went back to tighten it all up. done, went to staging. waiting for fucking ever as all the sport men were sent off. i was called up 3rd, that was pretty cool. man, that stretch of flat looked so long... so i waited for don to give us the Gooooo... and we were off. nobody wanted to take the lead. it was kind of funny. i always hear john talk about it during an elite race but have never experienced it. i kind of laughed at myself... but that didn't last long. that was a long lead out for me... my heart was ready to explode and my legs felt like crap. CRAP. hope i recover. i will. just settle down. I got to the road after the small leadout singletrack. it was a downhill road section... i felt like i was going backwards. my legs were bummed. okay, relax, you'll get it back. down the dam road, up into the singletrack. rider right in front of me... sometimes i always feel like if i was a more aggressive passer i'd do a lot better in a race, but then i have to remind myself, well maybe you do so well because you recover behind the other rider... i'll never know. anyway my legs were still bummed... too much tire pressure in my rear tire. i actually preferred riding with my fork locked out but didnt' want to blow anything. i'd've given anything to have a high volume rear tire... so, first lap felt like poo.... second lap, poo still, third lap i tried to get it back but nothing. i felt some girls on me in the singletrack. i could tell they were struggling a bit in there so i was able to turn it up a little. i knew going into the open for the end i needed a gap to not get passed as i wasn't feeling it at all. it made me appreciate the big ring efforts i had at the end of the first two WORS races. anyway, i did get a gap. i didn't hear them for awhile. climbing the gravel climb back home one of the ladies passed me. bummer. i couldn't respond. i had nothing. oh well.
i thought for sure i was like at least 5th in age and maybe like 18th, 20th overall. oh well, everyone has a bad day. i knew i gave it all i had so i was satisfied. saw the catt cruising around the wors tent with bos and casey. they were guarding the water bottles and waiting to stage. thanks again to amy dykema for keeping an eye on casey while i changed and john staged. a weekend saver for sure.
after my race it was a little stressful. i needed to change, get the water bottles for the team and head over to the feed zone. tony pleasantly surprised me with news that i was first in age as i was changing. sweet. at least i had a good result. i hurried up to get casey to get to say good luck to the elites... i barely made the start. found casey, thanked amy and started to get everything together for the feed zone. i wanted to get to the feed zone, feed and get my medal. beth allowed me the opportunity to do this without making it too stressful. thanks beth. i got to the feedzone and dropped everything off, waited and asked around when the elites would be coming through... i had about 10 minutes, which of course would've been 2:30. time of my awards. dammit. beth made me go. she took charge of water bottle duty. i ran up to the awards just in time to get it, ran back just in time to watch john ride by both myself and beth. dammit!!! he needed water too. i ran down the course to meet him at the road after the start of the singletrack. i had flip flops on so it was entertaining for me at least. i caught him. after that i realized how much i rule. he tossed his bottle in the ditch however. dammit. sliding down the ditch in flip flops... did it, had to save the motion control bottle. headed back. i only missed frank and mike. i was able to feed everyone else. how many times can i rule in one day?
headed back to the finish after waiting for tim to go by. i missed adam finishing but i saw everyone else.
congrats to all. it was a great weekend.
next race wausau. WORS #4. i'm gonna enjoy this off weekend. hopefully i'll post more often.
