Palos Meltdown 2009

I was looking forward to this race for awhile. Getting sick I wished it was a week later. Turns out that Saturday I started to feel better; so I wasn't bummed at all. I was in a way excited. I still didn't know if I would be affected or not.
Anyway, we've been taking our neighbor kids out mountain biking. They've gotten a few rides in so we signed them all up for the Meltdown.
So...
All of us plus Gage and Jeremey headed out to Palos to start the day. Meg and Bubba showed up shortly. Carlos and Sonia showed up after them.
What a fucking awesome day! I don't think it could've been more perfect.
We had our neighbor kids there. The 11 year old, Ryan, raced citizen and had a spectacular time. He even outsprinted a full-faced helmet dude at the finish line! He couldn't stop talking about the race. I find that so awesome! Our other neighbor Mark, who is 15, raced citizen as well. He ended up cramping on the finish hill and had to run it up for the finish trying to stay ahead of the guy right behind him. It was hysterical yelling at him to GO... He was like "I can't". So we just started yelling "RUN" and he started running. I'm still laughing about that today. Our other neighbor kid, Ryan, raced sport. He's 15 as well. He has a little more ride time than the other two kids (two WORS races and riding tons when he can). I loved watching his face as he struggled up the finish hill while we were yelling at him. He gave it his all and ended up collapsing at the finish! I have some great photos of that.
I'm proud of all of them. I know they were hurting and they stuck it out.
After laughing our asses off at their finishes we headed back to get ready for our race. I started at the back of the pack with Bubba and Meg. The first lap I struggled with recovering as usual. Megan and I rode the majority of the race together.She'd pass me on the opening stretch and then I'd pass her as we were heading to stair steps. Then I'd gap her on Turf. My second lap was awesome. I felt like I was killing it out there (whether or not I was remains to be seen, it just felt like it). I didn't see Meg until I headed down towards the green grassy hill going into the 3rd lap. When she caught me there, I knew she'd take me in the end. I barely gapped her heading down into Turf- I'm not even sure I'd call it a gap. Then I was struggling. Up Psychopath I told stories of wanting to quit right then and there. My quads hurt so bad. I was on the verge of cramping. By Gravity Cavity I let her go by. I watched her motor out. We practically could've slapped hands on the two way on the grass heading into the finish. Sweet.
I had an AWESOME time.
I don't think being sick had any bearing on my race. I felt great really. It was a long race. Someone mentioned lap distances with the grass hill were closer to 9 miles and not 8. I finished 3rd overall. Podiumed 1st in age. Holly took 1st overall, so wasn't in age group awards.



John took 6th overall in the men's race.

Little Ryan finished 65th out of 93 finishers, 5th age. Mark finished 14th overall, 1st age. Ryan finished 19th out of almost 250 riders, 1st age as well.

Good Times.

p.s. The spacing and the pictures is pissing me off, but I'm too lazy to switch it all around.