TLDR: This was the third race! We drove up on Friday, pre-rode Saturday, and raced Sunday. It was supposed to rain Sunday, so they shortened all of the multi-lap races and had us middle-schoolers racing around 12:00.
Place: 1st/8
Beat field by: 5:50
Story: We woke up early and packed up all of our stuff. Then, we picked up Keelan and her dad, Coach Marty, and were on our way. Halfway through the 4-hour drive, we stopped at Erwin Park to make things more interesting. Since our rack only had room for 4 bikes and I was bringing my trainer bike for the race, my dad had to bury his bike in the middle of all of the luggage, so he wasn't able to ride his bike. Instead, he and Coach Marty took turns trading Coach Marty's bike. It was a really fun jump course, with some flow and some bigger stuff. It had a flow trail behind it, with skinnies and other fun features. Keelan and I went on it, expecting it to only be a small loop, but the farther we followed it the farther away we got from the park. We got a little lost, found our way, and re-rode it with a parent.
We got to 4r around 3 or 4 and set up camp. Then, around 5, we all headed up to the 4r ranch winery for dinner. Turns out, clipless pedals + tennis shoes + steep incline = hard. But, it was worth it, because they had the best pizza and charcuterie board. After that, we went back to camp a roundabout way, and Mr. Marty popped his tire on a thorn. After that was fixed, people started to show up. But by then it was getting dark, so, of course, we played hide and seek! After running around for a bit, we settled down around the fire and got out the packets that made the fire turn different colors. Afterward, I went to bed at 11:00 and got 7:38 hours of sleep.
I woke up the next morning at 6:45. I know, I know, not my smartest move. It was kind of cold when I woke up, but it warmed up. I had oatmeal for breakfast. What a shocker. Anyways, after I had breakfast, I wandered around the camp for a bit, like 2 hours, and then started to get ready for the pre-ride. By then it had warmed up, so I took off most of my layers. When we gathered around before the pre-ride, the coaches that had ridden it before warned us of the corners. They were sharp, flat, dusty corners, perfect for sliding out. Which, by the way, is not what we wanted to do.
When we started, the trail started with a couple steep pitches, some of which I was able to make, some of which I wasn't. At the top, there were a lot of sharp, flat, dusty corners, just like the coaches said there would be. I slid out on a couple and I wasn't feeling very confident at all in my abilities to carry speed through the trail during the race. After being at the top for a while, the trail took us down, which was super fun. It was flowy, and at the end, there was a stretch right before the finish that I was really excited to sprint. My dad did the coaches' race that included drift trikes and won the first round, then got second in the second round, and got the second place trophy. After that, I tried the drift trikes and it felt really weird. That night, we roasted marshmallows over the fire, and I went to bed around 11:00.
On race day I woke up at 6:45 and got around 7h 40m of sleep. I had oatmeal for breakfast again and got dressed in my race clothes with a hoodie over. I was kinda nervous because I had never raced so early before, and I didn't know what to expect. I was feeling pretty good during warm-up, and walking over was good. In the line though, I felt really nervous. Even more nervous than the other races. I got up to the starting line, and I thought I was gonna explode. The butterflies in my stomach were having a serious party.
When the whistle blew, I couldn't get my clip in so
I slipped a pedal and watched all the other girls ride past me.
I scrambled for my pedal and managed to get clipped in. I sprinted past all the other girls on the left side and snuck around all of them. I made it into the woods first, and, gasping for breath, I made the first little tiny itty bitty pitch, sprinted my way to the next, bigger one, and I was in the wrong gear and I had to run it. The adrenaline was pumping through my veins, and I fumbled for a foothold. My feet slipped in the dusty dirt, and so it took me a lot longer to get up the hill than it normally would, and at the top, it took several more tries than normal to get clipped in. I didn't make the next two hills, and I could see the girl below me walking up the first hill.
Seeing her so close was frightening and new for me - I was normally a lot farther in front by this point. I managed to pull away and fell into a rhythm that, looking back on it, was not pushing it. I was still going pretty fast though, and at the end, I sprinted through the finish just like I said I would in the pre-ride. I felt pretty good about it, and in the end, I found out that the pep talk that my dad and I gave Keelan worked - she won. Caroline, another lady bulldog, got second, and we were all so proud of both of them. We watched the rest of the 6th-grade girls come in, and then we had to leave really quickly because it started raining as soon as we started rolling out.
I felt really good about this race, even though Keelan and Caroline had faster times than me, I still tried my hardest and had fun. It was a great race, and I look forward to the next one.
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