Jingle Cross Rock #1

The whole day started with a "what the hell am I doing here?" moment and continued on an upward curve from there. It was damn cold at get-up time, a whopping 18 degrees with the prediction being a high of about 40 by race time. Note: One of the best things about UCI races? Elite Women don't start until 1:30pm. My teammates Monique (Mo) and Kristin were up early to head out for Mo's master's 35+ race and I decided to stay back in the hotel for a little while longer. No sense in freezing before I really had to, right? It was a prime opportunity for my mental demons to start their dirty work, eating away at my fragile pre-race psyche until I finally just left and headed to the race venue.

I arrived in time to see Mo and Tammy head out in the masters race. I'd missed the earlier races where Deb and Brooke were representing and both did quite well in the freezing coldness. As I stood there and shivered, Mike informed me that he and Mary had brought and set up their tent - and it had a HEATER! Those were the sweetest words I'd ever heard - a tent with wind sides and heat source to change and warm-up in about 200yds from the start line. All I needed at that point was to get the lizard working in my favor, no small task.

It was at that point I pretty much figured out that there was no way I was going to have a shot at pre-riding the course before race time so I changed and headed out to inspect what I could before having to warm-up. As the temp climbed, course conditions changed immensely. The grass run-up (with nicely positioned log to jump at it's base) had become a slimy, muddy mess. The course also featured a set of barriers, a sand pit that ran through a building and out a doorway, a few patches of loose gravel, a steep uphill (yes, I used the 27 tooth cog, thank you very much...) and a screaming fast descent before heading back to the start finish area. The conditions demanded toe spikes and well, I just didn't have any (sorry John....I know....). My shoes didn't actually accept them anyway so I was in for a lot of slipping and maybe even some falling.

Representing for Kenda on the start line were Kristin, Andrea, Catherine and myself. I got a front line starting position and actually had a moment of clarity and confidence about 5min before the gun went off. Weird how that happens. I have hours of brain swirling anxiety and and soon as it's go-time, I'm good. I need to figure that one out. Anyway, off the line I was sitting in 3rd position after the barriers and the long grass stretch to the run up, feeling damn good. I had a good dismount at the log and as soon as I hit the run-up I felt myself go slipping backward trying to find traction as everyone passed me. That's where my race essentially ended. I fell back to 9th position and it never really changed from there except for a couple of back and forth passes along the way. Lesson learned the hard way: buy the freakin' toe spikes and use them. It can mean the difference between a podium finish and a top 10. With the run-up being 3 times as long on Sunday I decided it was best to head home early instead of suffering the same fate. That, and I was experiencing some knee pain that didn't subside after ice and advil so I thought it best not to further aggravate it.

I have to thank Paul, Mike and Mary for being there and supporting us. It was great to have Brooke, Mo, Tammy and Deb around after their races - thank you for all of your positive energy and for yelling HTFU the hill. You have no idea how much it helped. I posted some of Paul's photography separately - excellent stuff.

I have to say that I kept the race report pretty concise - so many things happened that I didn't include basically because you'd be reading all day. Suffice to say that I had a great time hanging out with my roommates Kristin and Mo and that we all had a great team weekend.

Up next, Wisconsin state championships - gotta support the team and help get Kristin a WIN!!