Race Report

Downieville was a blast. After a trial run on the downhill on Thursday, I sat out Friday's trial run in order to rest up for the race (my second one so far). I read by the campsite, entertained myself with Luke and Ann Marie's baby, Hayden, and swam in the cold cold (but not 'ice' cold) river water. I was pretty preoccupied with the race on Friday evening and stayed quiet as I took in every tidbit about it that more senior mice were dropping: the climb is a bitch, it's a mad sprint at the start to get good position for the climb, the climb will make you question why you're even doing this, it's a congo line on the fire road climb so it's hard to pass people without going on the really loose parts, there will be a lot of carnage - inflicted on man and bike - on the descent, the climb is long steep and exposed...............................

Leading up to the race, I slept like a baby, ate a light breakfast and went for a warm up with Luke. He pointed out where I should wait to get a starting spot close to the front. Off went the experts and sports at 930 and 935. Dave Z and I chatted at the starting line and then rolled out smoothly at our designated time of 940. I kept up with the leading pack of 8 or so, not wanting to blow it on the climb because it was supposed to be a bitch and I was confident I would make up time on the descent, as long as I wasn't completely spent by then. The climb ended up being rough but not quite as brutal as I had anticipated from all of the buildup. Especially after riding Charcoal 6 days prior, which is shorter but steeper. I finished the climb strong but slightly crampy and excited to go down... for the next 20 miles!

I blasted down the trail, asking several very obliging slow riders to "pull" when it was safe to let me pass.... then zoooom, like a rocketship I would leave them behind to wonder whether I was in their class or not. And speaking of which, by the middle of the climb I had passed a good number of riders but had no clue as to how their times would affect my rankings in the Beginner 19-34 group. Oh well. When in doubt pedal harder, right? My goals for the ride were not to flat (which I did do at the end of Thursday's trial run) and to come home with a medal and a photo of me on the podium.

Even though my front brake all but disappeared for a few minutes on the fastest part of the descent, I finished feeling strong and staving off the threatening cramps. Oh yeah, I fought off the cramps fine except for when I hit the last really technical rock-wall-like climb in the wrong gear and had to wait for three minutes for my right thigh to unlock from a fully extended position. A spectator I chatted with during my time-out donated some water to my cause and sure enough, like greasing up the tin man in the wizard of oz, I was slowly able to bend my leg enough to contact the pedal and coast for a bit until I was back in pedaling shape. Then blast off a few more times (god I love that feeling of going 30 through the woods on a straightaway), and I crossed the finish line (no flats!) with nobody ahead or right behind me.... and no clue still as to how I did compared to the other riders in my class

Free food and beer was great, but waiting all the way through the drawn out river jump competition was torture. I just wanted to lay down. Then, when I went for a stroll to look for more free food, I peeked around the community center to find that the results were posted and that I had reached my second goal.... 5th place at 2:51:57, trailing the leader by a mere 9 minutes!

Hallelujah.... what a sweet deal.

This type of course is exactly what I had been casually building my skills on for the past 5 yrs in the Seattle area. I was practically groomed for this race (with it's long climb and technical descent). The medal is extra sweet because this summer is going to be the last time for a few years that I'll be able to devote serious time to mt. biking (the hard part of med school is just around the bend). So a big thank you to Paule and Julie for welcoming and encouraging me off the bat, and to all the other mice who have been so great to ride and hang out with.

with a big fat grin,
d