franklin

ha ha. what a mudfest! what a blast! popped it in the big ring not realizing the mud that was ahead after cresting the climb. forgot i was in that big ring and pushed through. passed like 5 gals. slip, slick, slide... down. bar end, grip and shifter sunk in the mud with my hand.
got up and was sliding off the handlebar. now i realize i'm on the big ring and can't shift down. hmmm.... my teeth... i'll figure it out. just keep going. finally made it to the gravel. i can see brittany just ahead. okay i'm not doing bad. now use your other hand to try and shift down. nope, too slick. glove off. that worked. phew. the singletrack was awesome. slick to make it interesting which is what i like. pass people get out to that moon climb thing and everyone passes me. it would have been nice if i warmed up. but to have time to warm up i need to leave my house in time to get there before 11:18. thanks to everyone that helped me get on the bike to make the start. my warm-up consisted of big ringing it to the bathroom and then downhilling to the start. i don't remember any details really after that moon climb. just passing people, trading places with people. the second lap was worse than the first and third. the mud just before the singletrack was obnoxious, but i'll remember this race for a long time because of it. i still need to work on the food thing... perhaps taping the gels to my stem or wrapping them on my bottle. i have a hard time reaching in my jersey as it's kind of short. on that third lap i really needed a gel. this guy's kid, meghan, and i traded places a couple times at the end, but she killed me on the final climb to the finish line with her smooth pedaling skills. i wish i had that much energy at the end... i saw amy walking and i think i was riding as slow as she was walking as she didn't seem to be getting any closer. the elites and comps i know were yelling at me to get her... i stood up to give it an extra go and sat right back down again. didn't matter. i was happy with my finish. 2nd age and 5th overall chick.
this was probably the first race in a long time i didn't have thoughts of quitting. which to me says i wasn't going hard enough...
thank to john and jeremey (he has pics from the race) for giving me water. how rad is it to have people give you water? i won't get used to it as i think next race i'll have to carry it in my pocket or something.
congrats to everyone today... john for taking 2nd age on his singlespeed, jesse for taking the overall, marko for following in for second and ronsta coming in 4th after his grueling win last weekend. it made for a fun watch of the elite race. congrats to dave and jerry for making mars the majority on the comp ss podium. congrats to the juniors nate and mitch for killing it as well.
as i was walking around the event today i thought about how it's cool having a blog. i've met so many people i wouldn't have otherwise. you know people's names to cheer them on and they know you.

*photos courtesty of mg and rusty