That's right. I took first place at my local venue during the Fat and Skinny Tire Fest this past weekend. I'm really happy about it. It was really special to me because it took so much pain and work to get back to the top step after such a hard surgery and recovery from the ankle operation that was just 5 short months ago. I was also stoked for the win because it was at my hometown and I always seem to come up a little short here. It was also cool because, even thought reports may say otherwise, even though I trailed the leader at the halfway point, I was right with her and I knew my tank had more in it and I was following patiently while saving my lines. She did flat, and even though no one really knows, I have no doubt that I would have won the race regardless. The weekend started off just as expected for me. I spent the days before getting things around and hustled around to get the bike up to Summit City to have the guys set Yang up with a spare set of more aggressive mud tires since the forecast looked rainy. After the pre-ride with Don on Friday, I was hoping for a little rain as the ground was very loose and dry. I even washed out and pile drived the ground as a result of this. Well, we got more than a little rain to say the least. Thankfully, KCV had the trails prepped perfect and even though it was muddy, it handled the mud as best as any trail could. I decided to opt for the more aggressive tire on the front and I was thankful Terry T had the set up dialed.
Unfortunately, I also had a storm of my own Friday evening. I hadn't been feeling to smurfy all day and after eating my pre-race dinner, I confirmed I was not Smurfy at all. I threw it all up and spent the rest of the day feeling like I could blow at any minute. Not fun, and not helpful to fuel for a 2 hour race. I spent the rest of the night lazing around hoping for the best in the morning. I was bummed to miss the critical mass ride and the kick off party, but any movement was like riding a roller coaster.
Come Saturday morning my teammate Brien Fields and I ate breakfast and headed to the race venue. I had a wave of nausea hit me again and after doing my warm-up I felt like I was hit by a truck. I almost decided to not race, but figured that I would just try it and see how it went. Glad I stayed out there! We took off with a great women's field and I dipped in the woods in the lead. I wanted to stay up front with the muddy conditions, but wanted to sit behind the leaders to save my line knowledge from the other gals. I settled into second and then decided to lose about 30 seconds by getting my crash out of the way. Seems like that was the trend of the day and I then found myself in 3rd behind a fast Amanda McKay. She also decided to do a spectacular crash and I got caught up behind that for several seconds and 1st place gained some more time there. I dipped back into 2nd and rode a smooth back half and after about 10 minutes caught Nikki D, sat in, and waited. She took a line, flatted unfortunately, and I just rode a smooth race from there on out. I ended the race at 1:40 minutes. It was a painful ride for me and my legs felt horrible the whole race. I was only able to gag down 1/2 a water bottle for the whole race because of the nausea, but somehow I pulled out a very respectable time and grabbed the win. I would have loved to see how I would have done if I wasn't fighting the flu, but it was about the win today and not really the time. Drt pretty much cleaned up on the day, as Andy Messer took the Pro men's win as well! We had several other riders that placed high in the rankings in the mtb race- good job team!
(The 29er worked great! And the Specialized Captain gripped like money)Sunday was the road crit in the Village. I was pretty much indifferent to this race. I knew I had a few teammates out there racing, so I decided I would go play with the roadies for 40 minutes. I felt a bit better from the bug after resting Sat evening and even thought the ground was a bit slick, I decided to race 30' before start time. Coach Don gave me orders to just play man to man with Bri Kovac and not try to match every break that the Alderfer Bergan (AB) gals threw out. I focused on that and let everyone else go as they pleased. While my team was strong, they are in different cats from me and thier race had a different pace. That had me pretty much playing 1 on 4. Like I say, no one would go to a Bball tourney, pay money as a solo player and expect to win against a 5 man team, but that what I was doing. That's what the AB gals are supposed to do in there race, play as a team, but I in no way had delusions of beating everyone. I did however, accomplish my goals for the race. I stayed upright, match Bri on her multiple attacks until the last 5 minutes or so, and I got in some great high intensity training. I found myself in a little sprint for 4th in the end, but being out numbered and in a point in my recovery with basically no high end training, I didn't even battle it out. I finished 5th on the day. Nothing to be ashamed of considering its my very last type of racing I focus on for the year. It was a fun race and it was made a little better by the tougher conditions. Right up my alley. AB gals had a good team effort and my team did good as well. Emily B got 6th and Anne Y rode strong as well as Katie G.
So Fat and Skinny wraps up another year. Its always great to have such a big festival right in my back door. As a National racer who travels miles and miles all year, its nice to have a little respite from the car time. Its always crazy racing at home with so many people who know you that demand a little time away from the normal race prep, but its great to showcase what a great sport that cycling is. I felt pleased with the weekend and was proud of my cycling community for all the great work they do, and I always leave this festival wandering if my local cycling community feels the same of me. Even through the rain and mud, the event was a big hit and I can't tell you all how thankful us cyclist should be for all the time and thought KCV puts into such a unique event.
Kudos to all the other local racers from beginners to pros! We represented the local cycling abilities well.
Mark your calenders for next year racers and race fans- its gonna be even better!
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