Crybaby Classic 2010 Race Report

The next few weeks I will be publishing race reports from the past two years.

From Sport to Expert.

Crybaby Classic
Nub's Nob Ski Resort at Harbor Springs, MI
September 2010

Everyone said moving from Sport to Expert was a big leap . . . and it was.

My main goal was to 1) have fun and 2) NEVER QUIT.

Everyone also said that mountain bike racing is red-line, super-high intensity from the start. And everyone was right on that point too.

We started with an uphill climb. I managed to stay close to the group. Thankfully we went from there into a down-hill. And it wasn't a coasting downhill, it was an all-out, big-ring, turn your crank descent. It was awesome.

I was  geeked that I was still with the field going into the heart of the loop. But, DANG, it was brutal. I have ever breathed that hard before. I had buckets of snot coming out of my nose. My legs were jelly 4 miles in . . . and I still had over 2 laps to go!

That looks like a lot of climbing to me.

This course was alot of climbing, more than I am used to. I was working so hard to stay with the group that my legs could not handle some the climbs and I had to walk a few of them. I was the only woman in Expert that walked the hills. However, I  managed to stay ahead of one woman and by the end of the first lap, I was on the back wheel of another. I was overjoyed.

In the second lap she would pull away on the climbs and I would slowly regain ground on the flats and descents. The last big climb of the second lap I dropped a chain. That was enough for her to get away.

Even though I lost sight of her, I kept telling myself she was right around the next corner. My legs were destroyed but I was not going to give up. One more lap and the sufferfest would be over.

During the lap I was alone. No one in front or behind me. I pushed myself beyond my limit. Unfortunately, my legs just didn't have it to do those brutal 2-3 climbs and I had to walk them. On the very last hill, the one person I was ahead of the entire race, came from out of nowhere and climbed past me.

The last 2 miles was mostly flats with a long down-hill to the finish. I shifted into my big ring and cranked it as hard as I could, knowing she was just ahead of me. Exiting the single track and into the final descent, I could see she had already crossed the finish line. At that point, it became me vs. the clock. I tucked in and sprinted.

DFL by 45 seconds. 14 minutes behind first place.
I am happy.