“Go!”

The guy next to me took off and I got rolling. I started down the course for the Yankee Springs time trial having no clue what was in store for me. I heard that there were some bad climbs, and that the trail was notorious for sand, but I really had no clue what was up ahead.

The first things I noticed were some sandy spots and a couple of small drops that looked like the result of erosion over roots. The singletrack was clean, winding, and flowy. The uphills were gentle and the downhills created opportunities to open up and fly through the woods.

To say that the uphills were gentle is not to say that they were easy. Maybe they seemed gentle because I had ridden Highland a couple of weeks earlier. Some of the uphills were technical with elements such as loose rocks, roots, and sand.

Cake. If there is one thing I learned how to do while riding up in Copper Harbor, it was how to clean a loose, rocky hill. Of course, the downhills were also a little crazy. I found myself plunging from dropoffs quite a bit.

Word to the wise, when you are racing and you are caught behind Di on a downhill, don’t follow this fearless woman (ha ha) with faith that she will find the safest line. Oh, no. In fact, I choose the craziest line about half of the time. Sometimes it’s just faster to take the plunge.

With the exception of two ascents, I made it up every hill, including the one that went straight up the steep fall line and was covered with some rubbery mat. The two hills that got me were the ones that were really wide with lots of roots.

I thought about those rooty uphills as I did them and quickly realized why I couldn’t make it up: I never saw this trail before, and I picked the wrong lines. Approaching those hills, there are entrances into the technical portions that looked like they would be good lines, but they came to an abrupt stop before I could tell that I chose the wrong line.

I finished the race strong and smiling. I loved the trail and had a great time. For the first time, I was able to do a race and actually enjoy it. It was a fun process.