Quad Cities

This past weekend, I went up north to Burlington Iowa to do the Quad Cities criteriums on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The first, my favorite one- Snake Alley, which is a crit that contains a 5 switchback brick climb that kills everyone, and a super fast downhill was extra hot this year. The average highs were 20 degrees above normal, so that made for an interesting (and sweaty) weekend. I had a great start, and stayed top 10 the entire race. I got sprinted for the finish, and ended up 12th. Oh well. The next day, Melon City, was another crit with a good hill on it (which I like too) and got squeezed out for the sprint, and ended up 12th again. It seemed to be my lucky number or something. I should probably work on my sprints- something that most mountain bikers are not super good at. The last day, Rock Island, was a typical, flat crit. Not exactly my style. But, I figured it was good training. I got caught up in a crash about half way in, and after that I wasn't really that into it since my knee and shoulder really hurt. I still sprinted, and ended up top 20 which is what I was hoping for. At least I can say I made it to the end, kinda in one piece. Overall, it was a good weekend, and I got some good training in for the next Norba in North Carolina. I actually kind of liked the road scene- Hmmmm...

Missouri Mountain Biking

Last weekend I went to race my mountain bike in Missouri instead of going to Joe Martin in Arkansas. I just wasn't ready to drive 5 hours after work on Friday and get up Saturday and do a stage race. So, I drove down to St. Louis and met Bill Stolte and Steve Tilford (from Topeka) who were racing on Saturday too. They raced earlier on Saturday at 10:30am, and I was racing at 1pm. I got there with them, which was about 4 hours before I had to race, so I figured I had plenty of time to get ready. After the pro men started, Trudi (Steve's girlfriend) and I went to the feed zone to wait for them. To make a long story short, Bill crashed really hard on the first lap, and I ended up taking him to the local clinic to get 15 stitches in his knee. I got back with 5 minutes to spare before my race. I dressed super fast and got on the start line, and realized that I hadn't registered yet. I rode back to the car (this was my short 15 second warmup) and gave Trudi my checkbook and license and rode back to the start line. By this time, the women had already started the race. I peeled my vest off, and hammered until I made contact with the back of the group. I still didn't have a number, and I had no idea how many laps we were doing. I asked people as I passed them. It ended up being a really fun race, and I am glad I made it in time. I burned my lungs really bad by not warming up though. I ended up winning, so I am now the Missouri mountain bike state champion. Wooohooo!

Fon tucky

This past weekend I did the Norba National #1 in Fontana, CA. Luckily this one was dry, but very dusty and sandy. The exact opposite of Sea Otter in Monterey. Most of the team was there: Kim, Wendy, Shannon, Erin, and Sami. Kristin is in Europe and Noel was doing the Gila. We stayed at host housing in Redlands, CA- they were super nice and very hospitable considering how many of us there was. I arrived on Thursday, and got a preride in straight from the airport. I wasn't expecting the descents to be so loose, and on the first one I crashed- I landed on my elbow, and I couldn't bend it for the next 24 hours. I iced it, but its still sore today. Anyway, back to the race. We prerode again on Friday, and I felt more confident on the downhills since Wendy was helping me to position myself right. I haven't done those loose downhills before, so I got a crash course (literally) on it. Living in Kansas prevents me from doing fun things like that. On Saturday, we had great weather- but a little on the warm side, especially during some of the climbs where there was no wind. I got called up about 3rd row- not bad, considering my ranking. Unfortunately I picked a bad line to be behind, since the girls infront of me decided to crash about 10 feet off the start line. This means that I lost the pack, and the chance of getting them back was pretty slim. So, I raced my own race, and did the best I could. I actually had a great first lap, but got tired and crashed a couple times on the second which really put me back in time. My third was good, but by that point I had already lost the girls I was racing with due to my crashes. Overall, I raced the best I could, but the crashes really hurt my overall placing. The short track the next day (Sunday) was a similar story- the course was really fun- we rode up the downhill, so there was little burms and jumps that would be fast going down, but we were climbing up them. Again, a girl infront of me decided to slide out on the climb, which meant that I had to get off and run up the hill. This totally blew me, and again I was back of the pack. I did my best to pass a few girls in the next lap, but since I was so far back, I got pulled really early. The rest of the team did well- Wendy got 8th in CX and 11th on the short track, Shannon did the marathon and got 6th and Kim did awesome in the short track getting 32nd.
I can't wait for the next one- I am hoping to put all this behind me, and blow threw those girls that try to take me out. It will be nice to go back to NC- after living there for about 6 years growing up it will be fun to return. I am going to Joe Martin Stage race in Fayetteville AR this weekend. I will try my hand at some road racing for the next few weeks.