Snake Creek Gap Time Trial Series

Last year I was listening to people talk about this series, and I heard things like this: "It was so cold the water in my camelbak froze and I didn't drink the entire race", "The river only came up to my hip this year, maybe next year I can tape my trash bags a little better", "The last 7 miles is all rock garden and the rocks get bigger and bigger as you progress", " I had 5 mechanicals, and only 2 flat tires this year!"
Does this sound like a race you would want to do? Nah, I'll pass. But, since Tim did the 17 mile option last year I thought, "surely I can do one of the 3 time trial events and suffer for 17 miles...maybe the March race since it may be a little warmer."
Well, I'm not sure what happened to that girl, but somehow someone has talked some crazy into her and this year she ended up doing all three 34 mile races in Jan, Feb, & Mar, and even has the belt buckle to prove it! I have come a long way!

The race in January was unusually warmer than I was expecting (30-40 degrees), the creek was only knee deep, and the trail was somewhat dry.  The February race was very muddy & the creek was much higher, but I was still able to pedal through it.  I dealt with chain suck the entire race and had to replace my entire drive train afterwards.  The March race was again, a huge mudfest, but mechanically my bike worked like a well-oiled machine. The creek was waist deep, I hit a hidden hole, got stopped & just walked the rest of the way across.  Again, not a big deal since it was warm enough to not worry about hypothermia. I had trouble staying in "race-mode" for these races because of the staggered start. I rode with the Motor Mile guys to the start line, so that meant that I went off before the shuttle bus got there.  That also meant that all the fast guys on the shuttle bus eventually passed me, which became demoralizing, and I was only racing the clock which is hard to do since you can't even see it!  I did pass some racers, which was a highlight, but soon forgotten after I just kept getting passed.  My times for all 3 races were 4:35, 4:23, 4:13. So, I did get faster even though the conditions got worse.  My last time landed me a 3rd place finish in women 30+, so I got a little podium spot...

 AND a very cool trophy!

It was good to get out there and hurt so early in the year.  Good times!

Southern Cross February 25, 2012

With the Winter training coming to an end, and the Spring excitement of a new race season around the corner, sometimes you just gotta get out and RACE!! Me (& Tim), Paula & Star drove down to Dahlonega, GA for a 50 mile endurance cross race called Southern Cross.  You can use a cyclocross bike or mountain bike, but they say the course favors cross bikes since it is mostly gravel roads with some spectator-friendly cyclocross goodies thrown in. I had the hardest time deciding what bike to ride for this event.  I got my cyclocross bike last Fall, haven't raced on it, but I've taken it on some recovery rides up Lookout Mtn. via the Guild Trail. On the other hand, I am bonded to my Trek Superfly 100 Pro.  That is the bike I will be riding for the rest of the year, on all my 100 mile races & I am comfortable on that bike.  So, I raced the first endurance cross race of the year on my knobby-tire-full-suspension-cadi. I flew past many on the gravel road descents & was thankful for those fat tires everytime I spotted someone changing a flat (I saw about 20).  All those I did pass seemed to pass me on the last 7 miles of paved road, I was cursing those tires then, as it felt like someone was holding onto my bike jersey while telling me to pedal fast. Oh well.

 I did give it my all, left nothing out on the course, and had fun in the process. I was 13th out of 28 open women with a time of 4:25.