Story: I woke up at 8:00 and frantically started packing. We were going to Reveille Peak early because the jump lines were rad. I'd only been there once before, but that was enough time for me to fall in love. It was the first time I had gotten any air, and it was exhilarating. Now, visiting for the second time, I had much more experience under my belt and could clear 100% more jumps. I brought my Status, which I won at Spider Mountain, but that's a story for another time. Let me tell you, lugging that thing up the hill to the jumps was not fun. It weighs almost 10 pounds heavier than my XC bike, and I was not used to that weight. Taking it down the jumps, on the other hand, was AMAZING. It felt like I was flying, but I tried to take it easy and go chill, because, after all, I had a race in two days. We even looked at the 20-foot drop, though there is no way I would think about trying it. Some of the boards creaked when we stepped on them, and even though I don't have a fear of heights, standing on creaky boards when I can see the ground below my feet twenty feet below, I got a little queasy. The view, sitting on the edge though, was incredible. We did the jumps a couple more times and looked at the bigger stuff, which included my dad slamming into a huge step-up over and over and over again. It was hilarious, and we headed back to camp. We spent the rest of the day chilling, and I ate almost an entire bag of veggie chips. I had spaghetti for dinner and went to bed at 9:20 and got 9 hours of sleep.
The next morning, I woke up at 7:00 and had oatmeal for breakfast. I got dressed in my pre-ride clothes and put my bulldog's hoodie on over it. I helped to set up the starting line, and I got some volunteer hours clocked in. Elizabeth Bailey also helped, and we turned zip-tying into a friendly competition, which I totally won. Yeah. Definitely. *Ahem* Anyways, after that, we went back to the camp, where someone brought donuts. This only being my second race, I didn't know how a ton of sugar would affect my performance the next day and I didn't want to find out the hard way, so I only had one. What? It's a donut. I spent the rest of the time until preride hanging around the camp. Since it was really cold and windy, the team gathered under the warm-up tents and attached sheets to the openings to block the wind, then put a heater on full blast to warm the riders. During the pre-ride, I was feeling good about my climbing, and I made all of the features except for one, which I sessioned with no luck. It was a steep uphill, with loose dirt and small rocks that made it easy to slip out. Once we were done with the pre-ride, I was feeling pretty good about the trail, even though I had worries. See, one of my friends said that Troy was the best course they had ridden, and I was worried that all of the other courses would be disappointing and nothing like my first race. I was wrong, though, and the Reveille course was awesome. After hanging around camp for a while, I went with some others to the jump and drop area.
We saw some people there doing the jumps who weren't with NICA, and one of them decided to do the whale tail because there was a guy there looking to sponsor someone. He cased it badly but rode it out. It was super cool getting to see someone do the whale tail. The photo to the left is the ramp to the whale tail. Super big. That was really cool, and we walked around the jumps for a little while longer, then went back to the camp. Back at the camp, there was a little pinata action. It was both Resse and Tatiana's birthday that weekend, and there was a double celebration. There was a pinata and cupcakes, and, of course, Happy Birthdays all around. We hung around the fire for the remainder of the evening, and then I went to sleep around 11:00 ish. I don't have the exact data because I didn't wear my watch that night, but I probably slept around 8 hours.
I woke up that morning around 7:00 and was feeling kind of tired. I had oatmeal for breakfast in bed, then grudgingly got up and put on my race gear. I wandered around for a bit, then started psyching myself up for the race, even though it was in a couple hours. This was the race where I found out if the first race was a fluke or if some really fast girl who didn't show up to the first race was going to come and beat
me by 5 minutes. No matter what, I was still going to try my best and race as hard as I could.
Fast forward to warm-up and that's when I really started to get nervous. This was the first time that my dad ever ran the warm-up, so that helped a bit. During warm-up, though, I was feeling kind of tired, and that did wonders for my confidence. Not. I warmed up on my jump bike since there wasn't room on the rack for my XC bike, my warm-up bike, my jump bike, my dad's bike, and Brecken's bike. Our bike rack only fits 4 bikes, and that would be 5. Yay! I can count! After warm-ups, we went and hung out by the start. At the starting line, I was super nervous. It was kind of an uphill, and helping set the start the day before had let me see that the start was really loose and had a bunch of loose rocks and sticks. I really didn't want my front tire to slide out, because that would be bad. Also, there was a really tall girl next to me, where second place was, that I didn't see at the first race because the callups were random. She was really tall and looked really strong. I was worried, and when we took off, she stuck with me. I could hear her behind me, and even though I was
the first one into the woods, I was super worried that she was right on my tail. I had to put as much space between her and me before we got to the hill that I had trouble getting up. If she was right behind me then and I messed up, I could go to second place. That could not be allowed to happen. I made it up the first rocky hill, then messed up the one that I thought I wouldn't make. But by then, I was way in front of her. The rest of the race went smoothly. I got up all of the other hills, and I sprinted
all the way through the finish. The finish was on a pretty steep uphill, and I pushed as hard as I could up it. Finishing that way, all the way through the finish, felt super good, and like I accomplished something.
Before I knew it, it was podium time. When they called my name, I went up with a big smile on my face. I bowed my head to receive the medal, then climbed onto the podium. Because the 6th-grade girls were the first to go on, I hadn't seen anyone else get onto this podium. I climbed onto the top step and put my full weight onto the podium. As I was turning around to face the crowd, the podium wobbled beneath me. I fell backward, flailing my
arms around to try to catch my balance. I landed on my feet, thankfully, and climbed back onto the
podium. Even though I was dying on the inside, I
raised my arms high. I wasn't going to let one slip
up take my moment to shine! Once the cheering
died down, I ran back to my seat. I cheered for everyone else, and when the podiums were over, I said my goodbyes and got in the car. On the drive out, I buried my face in my hands and said "I humiliated myself." My dad strongly disagreed. "It was surprisingly graceful. And funny. lol." "Dad!" I cried. "What? It was." He replied. More gently he told me that it was awesome, and I did a great job that weekend. I did, and all that I have to say is I sure am glad I get to keep that leader's jersey.
😉
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