6 April 2008  |  Race Reports

NMBS #2 Phoenix- Cross Country

I was a little anxious before the cross-country today because I knew the start was going to be crucial- there are only a couple hundred yards of straightaway before you hit the singletrack and there isn’t much passing out on the course. Last year I barely made it into the singletrack first and there was a bottleneck behind me so I was able to get a gap.

I had a good start and hit the singletrack first. My legs felt great- so I kept a steady hard pace, and eventually I opened up a gap. I rode the rest of the race by myself, but it was a super-short race. We only did two laps (I guess they figured that with the heat and three days of racing a short race wouldn’t be such a bad thing) and my finishing time was under an hour and a half. It was a really fun course- all fast swoopy singletrack, and it wasn’t even that hot. Definitely bearable.

Katerina crashed hard in the first corner and then went on to claw her way back up to second- an extremely impressive ride. After the podium she had to go to the hospital and get stitches in her knee- a big bummer, but she is tough as nails so I’m sure she will be all healed up in no time. Chloe had a good race and finished 11th and Catharine was riding in 3rd when she flatted with about 10 mins to go. (A TON of women were flatting out there- I’m so glad I had tubeless tires!)

I am really pleased with my form right now and I think I am riding stronger than last year. I’m looking forward to racing the Mountain States Cup race in Fruita next weekend. That will be a good tune-up before I head over to Europe for the first three World Cups.