"Thursday (2 days before said race) I decide that I
am going to race Napa
Valley Dirt Classic on
Sunday. I started to ask people about it and Brandy also had a handy
video of the course she found and all I got was "hmmm....are you sure,
it's pretty technical and it takes like several hours". In the end I
decided that it was a good idea, I would be fine and you have to grow a set
every once in awhile and to get better & you have to man up. Close mouth, race bicycle!
I also decided that I should go tubeless since I
still was a geek with tubes in my tires....so Vinny last minute took my very dirty (if you know me, you know I
race CX and it's to see how muddy I can get) wheels and converted my wheels on
Friday morning. Thank you Vinny! You must also know that I never
clean my bike, why, it's going to just get muddy again!
Oh and this is my very first real mtn bike race, in
my life. I only got this new bike last year, I decided CX bikes are scary
and instead bought this fancy 29R (I still am not sure what that means), the
bike weights less/same than my road race bike! I raced this said mtn bike
in CX earlier this year and won the state championship in my age group on a mtn
bike with tubes in my tires!
So Kurits and I meet up, drive over, so far so
good.
Upon arrival, there are a million people there and
parking is limited....Kurtis: "I've never seen so many people at one of
these". We register, so far so good.
Get dressed, put the number on set my tire
pressure, have a snack, so far so good.
Warm up and arrive at the start line (which is UP
HILL) now another bit about me...I hate hills, don't do well with them and it
is a big hurdle for me....I think the last hill I did was the overpass on my
last juniors ride a few weeks ago....I don't ever remember when asking about if
I should do this race anyone saying it had hills...so the start, yes you
guessed it, is on a hill, it just became not so good.
Women beginner was grouped with all aged women.
Some at the start decided it was not for them and quit before we even got
started. I even heard some guys pull out and talk about how hard it was
and they were not ready for this. Hmmm.....how hard can this be, 21
miles? And the whistle goes off....the women take off like North Korean
missals...they are real fast at first and then I keep my consistent pace and
start passing them one by one, they blew themselves up early. So this
start on a mountain goes on for sometime, a longtime. We get to a section
where people are getting off their bikes and running it up a hill....WHAT I
think, there is CX in this race too?! By the time I run up said mountain
and get back on, I'm thinking this was not such a great idea. I pass a
few more and keep pounding it out at a good pace. Ended up 4 women were behind
me somewhere for a longtime. I'm not sure what group they were in but I
was not the last one out there.
I keep climbing after some fast fire roads and
single tracks, thinking this is not SO bad I guess....I roll up to double down
arrows...it looks as if the Earth ends cause I cannot see the ground but no,
it's just that steep and straight down. Of course I go instead of think
about it....this mountain dip has large rocks, grooves, little rocks (if that
is even a word right then) and you are pointed straight downward...as in the
back wheel could come over at anytime and hit me in the head.I make it half way
and save my ass barely and get off, run it down. Now I see why all the
spectators are here watching...I say "I am prob the only one who just ran down"
Guy: "oh no, most are running down" Me: "uh huh. I say this was
a bad idea I got on Thursday" Guy: "well at least you can cross it off your
bucket list" Me: "hmm...funny thing is this is not on my bucket list, I'm
not that dumb" (note to self, go home and make a bucket list).
Well there were 2 of these said dips in a row, I
got through them and at this point, this was a bad idea and why did no one say
it had climbing...and a lot of it.
My race goes like this...
-mile 25: this sucks but at least I can ride by myself
and not have someone breathing down my neck
-mile 50: I wonder if Kurtis wants to go to that
famous burger place we passed on the way here, cause that sounds like a good
reward for this
-miles 75: I wonder if Kurtis got me some of these
pretty purple flowers when he went through here
-miles 100: they said there were 4 water stops and
I have only seen 1 and they did not give me any water...and every corner person
I have seen when I ask how much farther, none of them know. So I decide
that they must have been dropped from the sky by rope to their current location
while blind folded cause none of them know anything.
-mile 125- I wonder if I should pick Kurtis these
pretty purple flowers
-mile 150: nasty downhill with cat litter for
dirt....it was so scary, no traction but I made it and the guys at the bottom
cheered...again they were looking for crashes!
-mile 175: climb climb climb....this was the
dumbest idea I ever had, I should have listened to Brandy she is SO smart and me not so much.
-mile 190: water stop with high school guys tell me
they are at the 12 mile mark, I'm too fired to do math, how much farther is
that?
-mile 195: I'm not going to that burger place, I'm
never eating again.
-mile 196: I'm not picking Kurtis flowers, he's
prob been at the car 5 hours now and driven home and back, I feel bad he is
waiting for me so long
-mile 198: those boys did not have their miles
right, this was much farther than 8 more miles so we will go back to mile 195
-mile 195: can this hill be any longer? Some
guy drives to me on a quad and says did I want a ride....”NO but am I almost
there?” He says hmm...”well you have to go up here and climb a hill and
then it's pretty much downhill to the finish”....hmmm I can do that so nope I
do not need your help. So like 2 more miles he says.
-mile 197: that guy lied and I feel like punching
him.
-mile 198: there was more than one hill and then
when I got on the fire road the wind had picked up so bad it was a headwind!!!
FML
-mile 199: hmmm...this looks like the same hill I
walked up at the very start...yes it is! This means I am almost there!
-mile 200: I arrive to see everyone sitting on the
grass and some guy handing out awards, Kurtis finds me and I have to sit down!
He had been done a few hours ago...I ask what time it is...he says 3pm.
I cannot even do math right now but that is a longtime for me to have
been out there!
Some girl says there is a race here in July but
it's only 10 miles, yeah I might do that I say.
All in all, I had a good time, am glad I did it, at
some point I will be able to walk again and sit down without pain. My
whole body hurts! But I did it and I finished!
What did I learn? That riding with juniors is
not very good training for mtn bike racing, I gotta get in some more hill
repeats.
Typing this I think would I do this again, yes I
would!!!
Thank you to Kurtis who waited and never
complained!
Tomorrow is a rest day!
Kristen
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