22 July 2008 | Race Reports
US National Championships- Mt. Snow Race Reports
Sometimes you just don’t have it. Sometimes you REALLY don’t have it. Sometimes those days happen to be back-to-back. Dang it! I hate it when that happens.
I was so excited to race at Mt. Snow this year- I really like the course, and I was feeling good about my chances of taking a second National Championship title. The course was a little different- they took out the LONG hike-a-bike from last year, and some of the old downhill. They added a bunch of singletrack and a few steep fire-road climbs. All-in-all I thought the course was better for the changes especially since it would still be rideable even if it rained.
Cross Country
I started well and led for a little bit before Katie passed me on the first climb. I was riding pretty comfortably behind her but my legs felt pretty loaded up. Then, I lost my bottle on the first downhill but luckily Waldek had an extra one in the feed zone before we started the main climb. I passed Katie and then Mary passed me as I bobbled on the first singletrack climb. She got a few seconds gap, but I kept her in my sights and was able to catch her and pass her on the downhill. I came through for the second lap with a 20 second gap but again, my legs were super sluggish on the climbs and I felt like I could spin at all- I was just mashing. Mary caught me on the climb and put a few seconds into me and then I caught her again on the downhill and came through fro the last lap with 20 seconds again. I knew that if I was going to win, I was going to need to be in front of Mary for the downhill, because I was riding it way faster. Once again, Mary caught me on the climb, and while I caught up to her on the downhill, she made sure to go faster in the spots where I was passing. I tried to be patient, but I was getting a little nervous. Before the very last downhill, I tried to come around, but she got into the singletrack first, so I knew it was going to come down to a sprint. We rounded the last corner, and I started to come around, but there wasn’t enough time. Pretty dissappointing. Of course now I have a whole year to go back over everything that I could have done differently in order to win that race. I am pretty frustrated, but there’s nothing I can do about it now, so I’m looking ahead to the next couple of World Cups and my preparation for Beijing.
Short Track
I got a good start in the short track- and rode right behind Lea (who was CHARGING) for a few laps. My legs, however, never quite opened up and I felt like I felt at the start of the race for the WHOLE race. When Katie attacked, I had nothing to go with her and I could only watch as everyone else rode around me. Then I was riding at the back of a group of 3rd-11th and got stuck behind a crash on one of the short uphills on the course. I had to get off and run to the top and by then 3rd-5th had gotten a gap and were gone. I rode around in 10th or 11th for a few laps and then mustered up some pride and moved up to 7th on the last lap. I also got pulled. Another sad race in the books. I definitely had the boo-boo lip at the end of this weekend- poor me.
One of these days I am going to have a good race at Mt. Snow!
So now I am back at Furlow to rest and regroup before heading up to Mont-Ste-Anne and Bromont for the next 2 World Cups.