21 July 2008  |  Race Reports

NMBS #5- Windham Race Report

I’ve been back east for a few weeks now and my lack of blog updates is pretty bad. At least it’s raining now so I am not too bummed about typing on my computer instead of swimming in the river…

It was so nice to have a race at Windham- I’ve been staying at Dad’s and it was only about 45 mins to the venue. The folks at Windham did a great job with the course- it was really fun, and had a good mix of singletrack and fireroads. The main climb was broken up by a couple of short downhills and some singletrack and the last downhill was fast with lots of bermed turns nad a few steep descents.

Here’s how the weekend ended up:

Warming up for the cross-country my legs felt pretty sluggish, but I didn’t worry too much- I’ve had plenty of good races after a sucky warm-up. I knew things were going to bottle-neck in the first singletrack section, so I made sure to get out front at the start. I got a little gap and tried to ride hard but conservatively up the first climb. Catharine caught me near the top of the climb and I rode with her for a few minutes but she had gapped me a little bit right before the downhill. I caught up to her and passed her on the downhill and had a lead of 20 or 30 seconds going into the 2nd lap. I settled into a good hard pace and just tried to stay steady.

It was pretty hot and I once again used my ice-bag strategy (putting them down the back of my skinsuit every lap). I ended up staying ahead for the rest of the race and winning by about a minute. I am very pleased to be riding well, especially heading into the next few races.

The short track was very exciting. There was a group of about 6 of us riding at the front- everyone was riding well and seemed motivated to win. Each of us took turns attacking, but I think Katerina and I did a good job of working together. If she would attack, I would sit up a little and let her open up a gap, and then everyone else would have to go around me to chase her down. Once they got there I would attack. In the end Katerina got a good gap, and I was just about to catch her as we rode up the last climb, but I couldn’t quite manage it. I was going hard- I knew Wendy and Mical were chasing hard behind us. I ended up crossing the line in 2nd, right behind Katka with Mical and Wendy only a few seconds back.

After the race we went back to Furlow to hang out for a few days before heading up to Vermont for the National Championships.