"race" report: Fun times in Carpentersville.

(photo: Brian Morrissey) Having not been on my bike (which, you'll recall, is a MTB and not a CX bike) since our Hopkins Park race, I wasn't expecting much. I had pre-registered for the cx race in haste after discovering I was missing the ride to Toronto-- and then I was crestfallen when my teammate Jen reminded me there were two trail races the same day. YARGH. I would have far rather raced competitively on trail (in shape or not) than puttered around a park on the heaviest bike in my field. Oh, well, such is NO REFUNDS of bike reg.

Erica and I left the city around 9:30am and got to the venue pretty early. I had baked peanut butter cookies and offered broken-off pieces as handups-- and in the 3's, Meshberg and Paolo actually took them. Nice. Then it was time for us to race, and so we did.

I had a nice new pair of kneesocks on, so I was feeling pretty good, whether or not the kit was WAY tighter than it had been in Chewammie. The course was pretty twisty-turny and I knew from last year that I had a chance for a nice mid-pack finish. When the race started, I bolted. I had a darn good start, really. I blame the grip shifts, allowing me to jump all the way down the cassette in one easy turn. Thanks, SRAM!

For a good half lap, it was like I was in a real race, with a real pack! The women near me were stronger than me but didn't corner well. Plus, since we were cornering around trees that had roots sticking out at the bottom, I could take it tighter on my fat tires than those CX tires could handle. I took some awesome lines and made some pretty cool moves, shouldering my way through aggressively. It was like trying to pass on singletrack, and I finally feel like I'm good at it! At one point, I'm pretty sure I sunk my handlebar into Robin's butt. Sorry about that, such are flat bars! By the end of lap one, it was me, Tamara from XXX, and Tammi from Pony Shop.

Tamara came around me in lap 2 on a grassy section where I just didn't have the power. Tammi pushed me for a while, and I was sure I could hold her, then she came around me. I stayed on her wheel until the sand pit, which had a 180 turn in it. For our four lap race, I rode it cleanly three of the laps! On lap three though, the sand didn't let me make the turn and I biffed it. Tammi pulled away, and I just didn't have it in me to catch up. I'd get close in the turny-slow stuff, but she was just stronger. So that was that...

On the last lap I took a cookie handup. And I inhaled it. I spent the entire afternoon coughing up cookie crumbs. That hurt.

Anyway, I did ok. 14 of 23. Had a great time shouting for teammates and running around in circles all afternoon. Woot for fall.