16 June 2009  |  Race Reports

US Cup #4: Colorado Springs

Raced at Teva Mtn Games in Vail two weekends ago.  Finished second to Katie in the cross country and third in the hill climb.  I got a little cough after Teva that I thought was just a race cough, but it’s lingered all week.  I haven’t really felt sick, but it’s kept me up at night, and I haven’t had a ton of energy.  Poor Dusty has had to sleep a few nights on the couch.

I wasn’t feeling very prepared or motivated for the race in Colorado Springs, but that’s part of racing- you don’t always feel awesome and you just have to deal with it.  The short track was tough- after a few laps Waldek told me “20 more minutes of racing!”  20 minutes never seemed so long. I was off the back from the start and I felt lucky enough to finish 5th.

The cross-country course was fun: there was a pretty long, gentle climb and then a long, technical downhill.  There were plenty of places to make mistakes and you had to be on your toes the whole time.  I however, was not on my toes.  I was on another planet.  I felt out of it all weekend.

I lost sight of the front group pretty quickly- I wasn’t feeling all that great on the first lap.  The second and third laps I felt much better, but I was riding by myself the whole time, so it wasn’t very exciting.  I did manage to bend my dereilleur hanger after smashing into a rock, but a quick stop in the tech zone allowed Chris to bend it back into workable condition, so I didn’t lose any places.

It was a tough weekend of racing, but I’m putting it behind me, and I’m getting ready for BC Bike race.  I’ll be racing with Ryan Trebon from Kona, and I’m hoping that trying to keep up with him for a week will magically give me the fast legs I’ll need to win Nationals this year.  I’ve never done a stage race longer than 4 days before, so I am looking forward to an adventure!