Wow - What a Race!

8:30 a.m. -- We arrived in Charlotte for the Cowbell Challenge where we were directed to the parking area assigned to Duos - directly under the power lines. You could actually hear them "sizzling" overhead - a rather ominous sign to my way of thinking! Despite that, my husband Steve and I set up the sunshade and gathered our supplies - food, liquids, helmets, gloves, bikes, sunscreen, chair, chamois butter (which I naturally forgot to apply...) and got ourselves checked in at the registration tent.

It was great seeing so many familiar faces after nearly a year off the bike and pretty much out of the bike scene in general, and I was actually very surprised to see that they had not forgotten me after my hiatus from cycling and racing following my surgery.

Steve and I had decided that I would ride the first lap so that I would have a chance to go into the woods at the very back of the pack in order to not hold anyone up with my inability to climb standing on the pedals - plus that gave me a chance to ride the "prelude lap" which would take us around the new whitewater park which I had not yet seen.

10:00 a.m. -- The race began and we were off! Around the whitewater park, where kayakers navigated the amazingly natural looking rapids, and up the dusty red clay climb to the trailhead and into the woods. As planned, I was the last rider in the very large group, and just took my time, recognizing most of the trail, with the exception of a few rerouted and completely new (to me) sections. The trail was in fantastic shape, with sturdy new bridges, rock gardens, tight twists, brutal climbs and screaming descents. I was slow, painfully so, but definitely having fun being back on this trail that I love so much and really enjoying the scenery!

10:59 a.m. -- The thought that crossed my mind was "What was I thinking???" at this point in the race, as I realized I was already an hour in and barely at the halfway mark in the nearly 10-mile course. I was already totally exhausted, my mind and body fatigued, and my knee still screaming in tight, congested, swollen pain - and I had barely even attempted more than just a few of the climbs yet!

11:15 a.m. -- By this time I had somehow managed to regain some sense of control over my muscles and was actually beginning to tackle some of the uphills! I found that the longer, more steady ones weren't terribly bad as long as I just settled in and concentrated on rhythmic pedaling. The short steeps were still not really doable for me, so most of those I just hopped off the bike and hiked up. I could get down most of the descents, as long as there weren't a lot of bumpy tall roots and rocks, since the jarring from even a small log crossing was quite painful and sent a sting of sharp pain through my knee all the way up to my hip and low back.

11:47 a.m. - YAY! I rolled through the transition area, ahead of schedule, as I had hoped to get through the 10 mile loop in less than two hours. Steve was waiting, and we switched out the timing chip and he was off. Since he is quite faster than me even with a good knee, we had decided that he would do two laps back to back so that I would have time to rest and stretch my knee. During his lap, I had the pleasure of meeting our "neighbors" in the pit area, who were from Asheville and racing Men's Duo. We had pleasant conversation and laughed in a sort of nervous kind of way about the radiation we might be getting from the overhead powerlines.

12:45 p.m. -- Steve returned from his first lap, I switched out his water bottle, and he was off for his second lap. I once again stretched my knee, and had "lunch" which consisted of chocolate soymilk, applesauce, Hammergel, more water and a decaf soft drink. During this break was when I decided that the right thing to do as a teammate would be to go out for one more lap - that way Steve and I would have equal lap numbers, even if mine were taking twice as long as his! We weren't thinking about being competitive, and we really just wanted to give my knee a "test ride", so four laps was fine with us.

2:00 p.m. -- Steve returned from his second lap. I asked him if he'd consider riding my last lap with me, since the course had remained open to the general public during the race per the Whitewater Park's request, even though only my lap time would count. After considering it for a few minutes, he graciously agreed to do so, and to carry my little cheapie camera along and snap a few shots on the trail as we rode. I was surprised at how difficult this second 10 miles was for me! Granted, I was very pleased and proud that I managed to ride up some of the very difficult climbs, at least one of which even caught Steve off-guard! He also said he was very pleasantly surprised at how quickly he thought I was getting down the descents this soon after surgery! However, I was so exhausted by the end of the lap, my legs just felt shaky and wobbly. It's amazing how quickly fitness leaves the body when it's forced into time-off from sports - I just hope it comes back as fast! I wasn't sure I could make it up that last big climb, but when I saw the transition tent, I just forced myself up the hill and across the timing mat - I don't think I've ever been so happy to see a finish line in my life!

4:30 p.m. -- The announcement came over the loudspeaker that the 6-Hour awards were being presented and since my friend Rebecca had raced 6-Hour Solo Women, we went over to take her picture receiving her first place award. Imagine our surprise when Steve and I were called to the "podium" in First Place for 6-Hour Coed Duo! We finished our fourth lap at 4:01 p.m. and the second place team crossed the line at 4:11 p.m.

I realize that I'm not ready to seriously re-enter the race scene just yet, at least physically, but wow, what a wonderfully reassuring way to give the knee a test ride. At least now, even if it turns out that I have to retire from racing, I believe my recreational cycling "career" is not over - I can still ride and have fun with, and even push myself a little harder than I thought I could and that is true success to me.

Of course, I'm sure I'll be back at the Cowbell - I just can't get enough of it! It's a great, fun race put on by some of the nicest folks you'll ever meet, on a dandy of a trail, and is just an overall not-to-be-missed event.