Crybaby Classic 2012

I headed up to Harbor Springs Friday night with my daughter Nora and we stayed with my sis-in-law, Victoria Ryba Holt, who lives just down the road from Nubs Nob. Nora got to hang out with her cousins while I rode my bike, so we were both happy. I registered Friday night and enjoyed the spaghetti dinner, which had some really good veggie lasagna and chocolate chip cookies. I could go for some of that lasagna right now....Anyway, Saturday morning I still got up before the sun to start the pre-race rituals. The race had a pretty early start at 9:10. I slipped away before anyone was even awake. Such slackers. :)

It was a gorgeous day. The sun was shining, it was cool but not too cold. There were lots of people from Traverse City racing that day so it was fun to see everyone in the parking lot getting ready for the race. I put my headphones on and warmed up, trying to get rid of some the jitters. Before I knew it, it was time to line up. We had 7 women in the Expert field, and all of them are great riders. I was so nervous to compete against them! No matter what though, racing 3 laps with about 1200 feet of climbing per lap was going to be good for me, right? I also was a part of the team competition, the Kolo TC Gentlemen's Club (I didn't pick the name) so I knew I had to try as hard as I could to at least dominate on one lap. The competition took the best lap time of all the riders on the team. 

The gun went off, and I went as fast as I could out of the gate. I hit the trail and attacked on the first climb, and when I looked back I didn't see anyone. Not quite believing that this could be true, I kept going as hard as I could, sure that the whole group would over take me at any minute. Kati Krikke did find me pretty quickly, and we rode together for awhile. When the Crybaby Climb came up, I knuckled down and made it up, losing Kati for awhile. I got to the single track first, but not before too long I heard Kati behind me. Not too much longer after that I heard the sound of another rider joining us. Whenever we came out into the open, I would go as hard as I could. I was completely freaking out, and in unfamiliar territory to actually be out in front! I was sure that Kati would fly by me at any minute and leave me in the dust. At the top of the hill, right before the chute (a fast, steep downhill singletrack that spills out onto the ski hill), Patty Devost, our third rider, tried to pass. I attacked again and made it to the chute first, which is such a blast to go down. I cruised as fast as I could go through the start/finish area and hit the trail again. I was alone for a minute or two and then Patty caught back up with me. We were together until the Crybaby Climb, where she passed me. My legs couldn't grind up the hill again so she gained some time there and she is also pretty fast on the singletrack. 

I kept up a good pace, but slowed down a lot from the first lap. After I lost sight of Patty I occasionally saw some of the women elite riders going past, but other than that it was the men racing. Knowing I was in a solid second, I just tried to maintain my pace. Knowing that there was another lap ahead was very intimidating at times, and I tried hard to keep focusing on that moment, and not get worked up about what was ahead. 

Going into the third lap, my legs were getting tired, but I told myself that I only had four more miles of climbing, and then it would just be single track after that. Once I got to the single track I told myself I just needed to get to the chute. The closer I got to the chute, the faster I started racing again, happy to know that I had made it and it would soon be over!

I went through the chute one more time, and it was all just down hill from there. At the top of the ski hill I noticed my vision was getting blurry, which kind of freaked me out, but luckily there weren't any obstacles I needed to go around. I made it through the finish and had to stand there a minute and recover before I went anywhere else. 

I finished 2nd in women's Expert, with a time of 2 hours 34 minutes and Kolo TC Gent's Club also won the team competition. It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon and I enjoyed a beer while soaking up the sun and the satisfaction that I had a great ride that day. Thanks again to Vicky Holt who watched Nora and kept her well entertained while I was pushing the pedals.