Moronacity

Ok, maybe that is a little confident. Yesterday was the Great Deer Chase in Calumet, Michigan during the Heritage Days celebration. The race started at 10:00 am and was followed by a 10:05 parade. What a great way to start a parade!

It was my goal to defend my title, as my team mate, Carp, put it. I won first place in my age group, last year, and I was going to do it again.

The race actually started Friday night. I ate a healthy sandwich from The Library as my bike was readied at The Bike Shop. Caleb fixed my rear brake and adjusted both, re-cabled the bike, and lubed it up. I had absolutely nothing else to do to prep it for the race.

I didn’t sleep well. That really wasn’t part of my strategy. My sleep has been hit or miss, and it wasn’t in my favor when I couldn’t sleep straight through the night. I had Malt-O-Meal, coffee, and grapefruit for breakfast. That part went very well.

I arrived in Calumet and chatted with many people before the race. My strategy was to start up front and not get stuck behind non-technical riders on the singletrack like last year. It worked. My singletrack riding was very good and I managed to hold a really good pace until the end. You see, the course, in a nutshell, is downhill on the way out, and uphill on the way back. I am not a strong climber, and those long, gradual ascents are what really kill my mental game.

It wasn’t an uneventful race. I flew around a corner really fast and heard the person behind me miss the turn and fly into the woods. It was actually quite funny hearing the prolonged crunching and crinkling of the leaves and branches behind me. At one point, I was traveling in a pack and hit a dip with my front tire that threw me off balance. My left hand flew off the handlebar and hit the shifter as my body shifted to the right. I managed to grab the handlebar and hit the shifter to bring my chain back up on the middle chainring. It was a prevented endo. That woke me up, which is funny because it’s not like I wasn’t paying attention. I was aggressively riding the course wide-eyed. It’s amazing how alert one is while racing.

I was told that I was in third place as I rounded the corner where the race split between the long race and the short race. It was time to head to the finish line. I wanted to catch up to the person in front of me, but I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t see her and I was bonking. After riding alone for a bit, someone caught up with me and flew right by. That was it. I had nothing left, and I couldn’t catch up with her. Oh well. I lost third place and everything I had just wasn’t enough. The important thing is that I gave it my all.

I came in fourth place for the women fifteen mile race and first in my age group. It was a strong finish and I feel very good about it. The only thing I would do differently is fueling. I didn’t take anything in because, while the course is fast and flowy, it doesn’t really have any areas where it’s safe to take your hand off the handlebar for food – at least when you’re riding as hard as you can because you are racing for a top spot. The funny thing is that I may not have bonked at the end had I reached for my bottle. My next race will be different.