FRIDAY
Sleeping was the main activity of the trip over??????????????? so, not too many details. Drool, uncomfy positions, some snoring, squinty eyes, etc.
Within 10 miles of Mesquite, it starts raining like he11??????????????? 20% chance of rain my a$$. We go to our hotel for some guidance after all four of us realize that not one of us took charge of directions to the track. Once we arrive, we're turned away because the track was now a lake. Friday??????????????????s practice cancelled??????????????? ****. So, we goof-off for the rest of the day???????????????
SATURDAY - Race day
We??????????????????re up at 5:00am after a good night??????????????????s rest at the Oasis.. And we??????????????????re at the track at 6:00am. I walk in a soup of mud to the WORCS trailer and I register for the very first time. Woohoo! I can already feel the nervousness and excitement.. and my race is over 8 hours away.. The unclassified race starts at 7:15am, the first and only chance we all have to scope out the track before race time. I??????????????????m borrowing Krash??????????????????s Cannondale to race this time around until my bike is done. But, Justin (Krash) has a National Championship on the line, so he gets out there first. Chance (CannondaleRider) and our buddy Jeremy get out there, too.. and I wait patiently for Justin to roll in so I can check it all out. I wait, and I help Chance get some fuel and watch him leave again, and then wait some more??????????????? The checker flag goes up for the Unclassified race and the first call for Race 1 is blaring over the intercom. Turns out Justin forgot to fuel up too, and ran out of gas a little ways out. So, no track time for me, but I did get my $25.00 back! And, thankfully, Justin wasn??????????????????t laying in the mud somewhere.
I was in Race 7 at 2:45pm - Women??????????????????s B/C class. I had been geared up since 6:30ish, so you would think that I was ready to go. Well, I??????????????????m relaxing a little before my race should be lining up when I hear over the intercom, ????????????????We??????????????????re waiting for one more rider at the start for Race #7... We think it??????????????????s a Day Pass rider, so if you??????????????????re still planning on racing, please???????????????..blah, blah, blah.. in other words, get your *** over here before they all leave you! Justin comes running over as I??????????????????m throwing his chest protector on. I finish up with the gear, jump on the dale, and head towards the starting line, Justin running at my side.
????????????????Where do you want me!????????????????, I yell as I pull up. Of course, all the other girls are looking at me, probably thinking, ????????????????About time!???????????????. But, **** happens. Justin wishes me luck with a peck on the helmet??????????????? the roles have turned, cause he??????????????????s usually on the receiving end of the good luck kiss. He takes off up a hill near the start so he can videotape it. I give the node to the flagger and before I know it, I??????????????????m taking off.. I felt pretty good considering I??????????????????ve only really rode this bike once before at ACP. As I??????????????????m trying to haul butt into the holeshot turn, I see two other girls get right in front of me..
I'm on the very right in this picture.
So I took 3rd into the holeshot, but I knew instantly that I was probably going to be in the way of the girl right behind me??????????????? and sure enough, she passed me after a tabletop and the next right turn. ????????????????Crap??????????????? ok, don??????????????????t get stupid??????????????? just race for the fun right now!??????????????? I take a jump (only a little one), a small left-hand sweeper, a right-handed hairpin turn, the long, fairly steep hill, and then I was on my way to the off-road section. Not knowing what was ahead, well, sucked??????????????? but, I just went with it. Not too far into the off-road track there??????????????????s a sharp left-hand turn that has a pretty nasty trench just to the right.. I almost took that sucker head on. I think the girl right in front of me did. Her bike??????????????????s off somewhere and she??????????????????s kneeling over like she??????????????????s hurting pretty bad. I stop to ask if she??????????????????s alright, accidentally killing my bike. She tells me to keep going with her face still in the dirt, fetal position. I??????????????????m not feelin?????????????????? great about leaving her, so I ask if she is sure she??????????????????s good enough for me to go. She waves me on again, and by this time the girl behind me has shown up.. so I try to start the bike up to get out of her way and take off again. Well, let??????????????????s just say it didn??????????????????t start right up and the girl gets off the track to get around me. My bike??????????????????s sort of high centered, so I get off and scoot it around to find a place for traction.. success, and I??????????????????m off chasing 3rd place!
I ended up catching up to 3rd place a little more than half way through the off-road track, and she was nice enough to move to the side as I passed going through a pretty deep whoop. So, now I??????????????????m in 3rd, and gung-ho for 2nd place. The next thing I remember is not braking for the first water crossing???????????????won??????????????????t make that mistake EVER AGAIN. The little water crossing became a huge wall that covered me head to toe, in the mouth, etc.. The worst part of the water was that I couldn??????????????????t see worth a crap for awhile, until I trashed all of my tear-offs. And then I didn??????????????????t have a dry anything to wipe off the water??????????????? so I just tried to haul a$$ to air dry! Oh yeah, and the excess moisture definitely helped with the monkey-butt progression. I came back into the MX track not sure if that was it or not.. But I knew by the time I slowly got over the MX jump and around the left-handed hairpin turn. I don??????????????????t remember having a whole lot of problems for the first lap, but it was pretty slow at 14:49.9, 56 seconds behind 2nd place. But, I guess I??????????????????ll take that since it was a blind lap..
Me going really slow over the big MX jump.
On the little tabletop..
I don??????????????????t really remember a whole lot from lap 2... There were a lot of really deep ruts and whoops kickin?????????????????? my butt pretty good. And I scared my folks in the MX track when I jumped with my front end a little high (it felt A LOT high!). The lap time came out to 15:31.4, 1:15 behind 2nd place. All I know is that the guy at the finish line was waving the yellow ????????????????slow your **** down??????????????? flag.. and I didn??????????????????t know why - cause there wasn??????????????????t any crash when I came through, but I went really slow anyway.
Lap 3 was about the same until I decided to get friendly with a fencepost. Yeah??????????????? my first official wreck. Woohoo! I was coming back toward the MX track through some more deep whoops with a fence on the left and some trees on the right. There??????????????????s a left-hand turn where the trees end, but the fence keeps going in a zigzag way to keep some cattle locked up. I look back to see if anybody??????????????????s coming up on my butt and as I turn around I go into another whoop a little too close to the fence. Of course, I catch a fencepost with my front, left tire which pitches the bike??????????????????s backside up and sideways. I slingshot over the right handlebar and get body slammed flat on my back. Thank God for chest protectors! I can??????????????????t see the bike, but I??????????????????m hoping it doesn??????????????????t keep rolling right on top of me. It stops on its right side, almost completely upside down. I get up and notice the tether didn??????????????????t come off, so I guess I didn??????????????????t fly that far! But, fuel is spilling out (later I realize that I lost the fuel vent), so I have a great time lifting the bike rubber-side down. In hindsight, it would??????????????????ve been easier to just pull on the left nerf bar??????????????? but, I guess I wasn??????????????????t thinkin?????????????????? so clearly. I just wanted to keep going. I got the bike on its tires pretty quick, but played **** getting it faced in the right direction.. and then my tether decided to come off??????????????? piece of??????????????? anyway, I lost a good minute or so to the crash and getting situated, and it shows in my lap time: 17:09.4, 2:15 behind 2nd place. Ouch.
This is a picture of a picture.. so a little lower quality...
It took me a little bit to get out of the ????????????????wow, I??????????????????m tired now??????????????? phase and back into racing??????????????? but I knew lap 4 would be my last. I remember the bike being able to get away from me a little easier cause my grip was weaker, but nothing too bad. The biggest pain in the butt was my pants coming undone (no pun intended)! I forgot my belt back home, so when the button snaps came undone, the zipper just kinda followed. I didn??????????????????t want to slow down or stop to close them back up! Terrible, I know. I was worried about moonin?????????????????? everybody, but I guess I wasn??????????????????t that worried cause I didn??????????????????t fix it until the race was over. My lap time ended up at 16:03.8... again 1:15 behind 2nd place. So, I picked up a little bit of the time that I lost with the crash.
I came cruising back to our truck and trailer where everybody was waiting for me, and that felt good. I can??????????????????t put into words how much their support means to me. We found out that I talk really, really fast after a race.. probably cause I had all this BS to say and wanted to get it all out. In the end, I came in 3rd place??????????????? 1:16 behind Tia Chandler and a whopping 10:34 behind Brittany Brosious (holy crap she??????????????????s fast!). If I wouldn??????????????????t have crashed, maybe I could??????????????????ve been a little closer to 2nd place?? But, I??????????????????m happy with a 3rd
place finish, and I got a cool plaque and some contingency stuff. It??????????????????s safe to say I??????????????????m hooked, and serious about the 2006 WORCS season!
My cool plaque..
SUNDAY - The Pros
In two words: KICK A$$!