a little late...

sooo i know this is quite late, but i finally got around to making a blog and thought i might as well post my race report from nationals. enjoy :)

Cat 1 Junior Women 17/18 at the start line

We're all so smiley :)  

me approaching the finish

We started the race on my favorite hill ever (NOT) (which, by the way, lewis' garmin told us had a 23% grade) starting at the base lodge, heading off on our start lap which would be followed by 2 laps of the complete Pro course. The course was a two-leaf clover shape that was 4.32 miles long and had an elevation gain of 710 ft. The first side of the course consisted of a recently cut trail that switchbacked up the mountain, then made a sharp u-turn and generally leveled out until reaching the base area at which point it turned and went straight down. This first descent was quick and fast, with many steep drops and berms that were basically wall rides. Incredibly fun, but it was filled with holes since it was cut just a couple weeks ago and there were numerous times I thought I would surely go over the bars! After passing through the feed/tech zone it was up the hill of death again, and then several more uphill switchbacks and into the aspens where it leveled out. This is also where they apparently brought in rocks to make what was a sad excuse for a technical section, especially for a Pro course. Then it spit us out near the top of the mountain-cross course and followed last years course to about halfway up the mountain (on nice smooth trail!). The final descent was next to a dirt road (really guys?) and again really rough and extremely sandy and sketchy. Towards the bottom there were a few sharp, rocky switchbacks and then joined the super-d course to the finish line! (Which was super fun!) So overall, a fun course to race on (minus the roughcut-ness), and the climbing layout was much better suited to flatlanders like me! But definitely not technical, and not quite what we expected for a nationals course. (Also, the start lap was the second half, after the death zone.)

           When we went up the first climb I was feeling great and powered up to sit in third for a short bit. But when we hit the long climb, my body wasn’t quite ready to maintain the pace, and I got passed up by most of the field by the end of the start lap. The first real lap I wasn’t doing too great, definitely feeling the altitude, and wasn’t really able to push myself as hard as i wanted. I would find myself closing in on people on the descents only to have them leave me behind on the climbs. But after a frustrating lap, I started the second lap (which was oddly my fastest lap) determined and was able to catch and pass 3 girls. I went into the final descent right behind ellen, but wasn't able to catch her by the finish. But i gotta say I was happy with my finish! The competition was fierce and everyone did awesome!