double race weekend....

i am going to try to keep this on kind of short. beth did a rad recap of our weekend on her blog, i'm pretty busy with work, have a lot to do moving-wise, and just have a lot of photos.

saturday we headed up to bonelli park in san dimas to pre-ride sundays XC MTB course and for me to race my first cyclocross race. we got to the park met up with allison and justin and then I rode 2 laps with beth before heading back to the truck to get ready to race.

i had no idea what to expect from the CX race... but the course looked fun. there were some barriers, a muddy run-up, a sand pit, and plenty of technical turns. I lined up for the start of the men's cat 3/4 race and felt out of my league. out of the 20+ guys on the line a lot of them looked pretty serious with some expensive bikes and full-on skin suits... and it was hot.

the race ended being one of the hardest things i have ever done on a bike... if not the hardest. it was the like the hellish first 10 minutes of a XC mtb race, but for 45 minutes. right off the start i was kind of off the back in about 20th place as we hit the first barrier and run-up.

when we got to the top i just jumped back on and started to hammer and move up. in the middle of the 2nd lap i was totally blowing up and thought i was going to puke... but kept hammering.

i rode my way through the field over the course of 5 laps and ended up finishing second and only down to first by about 20 seconds. so stoked... and could not believe how hard and fun it was. i have a new addiction!


after the awards we headed to my sisters house in LA, grabbed some dinner, and then collapsed on the couch. i was pretty shelled from the race and so was beth after riding her mtb for 4 hours and getting in a transition run... killing it!

sunday morning we were up and headed back to bonelli park for the US Cup Unification Race (finals). it was another hot one and beth's race started at 10:25 and mine was at 12:35. beth had a great race and won her category and was 4th woman in the Cat 2's. she getting fast on the mtb.

beth telling me how it went down.


my race was tough. a solid very fast field and i wasn't sure exactly how my legs would respond after saturday's hammerfest.

the race started fast. marco, in typical fashion, went off the front and a pack of 6 of us hung together through the climbs and descents of the first half of lap 1. in our pack i was sitting in about 5th of 6 and the guys at the front were definitely marking each other and playing games. i wanted nothing to do with that and didn't want to let marco get too far away because this was "his" course. he won the first US Cup race of the year on the same course. so i made a move on a climb and rode to the front of our pack and put the hammer down and wanted to see if anybody would come with me... and the really didn't. by the top of the climbed i had bridged back up to marco and we rode together for the remainder of the 1st lap.

i passed him right at the start of lap 2 on the first climb and just put in a huge effort and got away. i was alone in first and was riding scared. the is how the rest of the race played. i was hammering in fear of being caught... and after the 3 laps i crossed the line in first place. definitely the biggest win for me ever on the mtb. very happy with the race and the result.

the race kicked my ass. i left it all out there.


passed out waiting for the awards.


podium.


successful weekend for the team.


after the awards we "bolted" home. i had DVR'd the chargers game and couldn't wait to get home to watch it on my sweet 13" flat screen.

my beer was bigger than my TV!


nothing like sitting on the floor, eating dinner, and watching the bolts... lose (so bummed)


that's it. epic weekend. moving this week... it will probably be harder than all the racing.