pictures by pdxSo Thursday morning was the start of our racing at Nationals. My race was at 8:30 and was a balmy 9 degrees. I wasn't too worried about the cold except for my hands and feet. I popped some feet warmers in my shoes so that was solved but I knew I couldn't race in my lobster gloves because they are so bulky it makes braking and shifting really impossible. So I threw on some liners and my pink Defeet wool gloves and held on to hand warmers until right before the gun.
There were 40 of us for this race. Call ups were done the Cross Crusade way by random drawing of numbers. If the number drawn matched your last digit then you went to the line. My number came up 3rd and that meant third row start. I was fine with that since my starts have been really on this year and there was enough straight away before the hole shot to maybe get up towards the front. The gun went of and we were off. I made my way to about 10th for the hole shot and as soon as we hit the snowy course girls were down. Making sure that I didn't get too close to anyone since some were going down on straight aways. I decided to take the thick untraveled line as we passed the pit to pass a few more girls. We then hit the back part of the course where I was able to pass some more until I got behind the leader. I stayed behind her trying to get around her but there just wasn't room on the course to pass without taking the risky icy line. We got to the stair run up and I finally was able to pass her there. I was then able to really open up a gap on the barriers and the run up which I was able to ride.
On the second lap my fingers became numb heavy blocks and I couldn't tell if I was shifting or braking. I went down on some black ice on a corner but was able to recover quick enough to keep my gap. I yelled to Kevin in the pits about my hands but he really wasn't sure what to do except offer me his gloves when I came around again. I declined the offer and just told myself to suck it up. I rode the next 3 laps clean maintaining my lead and finally began to feel my fingers again. On the bell lap I went down on the off camber after the stairs. As I was running with my bike I saw that I dropped my chain and had to stop for a moment to put it back on. As I hopped back on my bike I could see 2nd and 3rd together coming strong. I needed to stay upright for the last bit of the course and ride the run up. I was able to do that and got the win.
It was a great way to start off and I was feeling a little bit more confident for my Masters race the next day. Since the Bs race isn't a national champion jersey race I won a really cool bag.
~holly
There were 40 of us for this race. Call ups were done the Cross Crusade way by random drawing of numbers. If the number drawn matched your last digit then you went to the line. My number came up 3rd and that meant third row start. I was fine with that since my starts have been really on this year and there was enough straight away before the hole shot to maybe get up towards the front. The gun went of and we were off. I made my way to about 10th for the hole shot and as soon as we hit the snowy course girls were down. Making sure that I didn't get too close to anyone since some were going down on straight aways. I decided to take the thick untraveled line as we passed the pit to pass a few more girls. We then hit the back part of the course where I was able to pass some more until I got behind the leader. I stayed behind her trying to get around her but there just wasn't room on the course to pass without taking the risky icy line. We got to the stair run up and I finally was able to pass her there. I was then able to really open up a gap on the barriers and the run up which I was able to ride.
On the second lap my fingers became numb heavy blocks and I couldn't tell if I was shifting or braking. I went down on some black ice on a corner but was able to recover quick enough to keep my gap. I yelled to Kevin in the pits about my hands but he really wasn't sure what to do except offer me his gloves when I came around again. I declined the offer and just told myself to suck it up. I rode the next 3 laps clean maintaining my lead and finally began to feel my fingers again. On the bell lap I went down on the off camber after the stairs. As I was running with my bike I saw that I dropped my chain and had to stop for a moment to put it back on. As I hopped back on my bike I could see 2nd and 3rd together coming strong. I needed to stay upright for the last bit of the course and ride the run up. I was able to do that and got the win.
It was a great way to start off and I was feeling a little bit more confident for my Masters race the next day. Since the Bs race isn't a national champion jersey race I won a really cool bag.
~holly
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