Teva Games

Last saturday i went up to Vail to meet up with a couple teammates and a climber for the teva games. i really had no idea what it was all about, other than there was a huge purse for the pro racers and i figured i would give it a shot since there is usually no money in mountain bike racing so what the hell. i drove down friday night and we all stayed in this nice but small condo- there were a set of bunk beds in a closet (no joke) that i had the honors of sleeping in- i called the bottom, in case i got too claustrophobic. it was pretty funny actually. barb got the room, which i figured, she did all the logistics of it, and Shannon G got the couch. Gabi claimed the top bunk, but she is so tiny i don't think it bothered her. by the way, she rocked the climbing competition- she's 16 years old and got 9th in the pros. crazy.
So the morning of the race, we got up and rolled down to the main event at the mountain. there were so many tents set up- so much free stuff to be had! i have never been to an event that gave out so much good stuff for free- t-shirts, running clothes, camelbaks, and the usual stuff like granola bars. there were good sponsors like VW (who also had a killer band playing), teva and Trek. Barb and I went to town getting everything we could- we went back to the hotel with 2 bags full of stuff. awesome.
so i suppose i should talk about the race- so i prerode the first small loop of the course, and i think i forgot how to ride technical stuff for a second- we haven't had to ride anything hard in the norbas yet, and my balance was way off. i was flopping around like a fish. so there ended up being like 25 girls on the start line, which was good but bad since they only pay 5 deep. so we start by climbing for about 10 minutes, and i didn't warm up at all. so that hurt pretty bad. probably one of my worst starts of the year. great. the first lap hurt so much and i was pretty far back from the front girls. i didn't think i would make it through the next 2 laps. but as the race went on, not only did i warm up but my skills got better- it was actually a fun race and after my body remembered how to descend technical stuff, was even more fun. i moved up 5 places on the last lap when i finally started getting my legs back. I caught up to Barb, and its always more fun to race with a teammate and keep each other going. its funny, the last couple races we have raced together finishing close- hopefully we will be able to do the same for cross this season too. it just proves how important a good warm up is. if i had more time, another lap maybe, i could have done even better. i was pretty sore the next day- and the day after that. yeah, its all about the warm up. seriously.
that night Barb and i celebrated by getting some ice cream and going to the bars in Vail. who knew that there was such a raging night life there? we met some interesting people and got our groove on at the Red Lion until pretty late. luckily i was not doing the hill climb the next day, which a few of the girls who did the mtb race did- overachievers. we woke up Sunday morning/afternoon, got more free stuff and said goodbye to the teva games. Gabi, Barb and i went back to boulder and hung out for the evening, rewarding ourselves again by getting some good burritos. tasty.