Columbia Rockbridge MTB Race - Part Deux

The Show-Me State Games Rockbridge MTB race would be my first Midwest Fat Tire Series race since Lost Valley in March, so I wasn't sure how things would go since I have been focusing more on road racing over the spring and summer months. I did get a chance to pre-ride part of the course after I raced the Show-Me State Games Road Race last Saturday, so I wasn't as apprehensive as I might have been. The course was a good mix of terrain and not too technical, so I was good to go, although I did not pre-ride the starting loop of the race course. My first lap did not go well. I missed the huge, red right hand turn arrow on a tree at the bottom of the first long downhill and went with the flow of the trail left. I went about a mile or so off course before running into a dead end & a good samaritan non-racer who took me back to the missed turn. I was pretty discouraged at this point. I decided to ride conservatively & aim for a safe finish. With only 3 in Women's Sport, I could do no worse than 3rd & would never catch up after being so far off course. However, if I ended up injured or with a major mechanical, I could DNF & not get any points for the race. The first & only major climb, I did not gear down in time & lost my chain. After fixing that, I road slow & steady, but really enjoyed just riding for fun. I stopped and chatted at the water stop, checked my time, and figured I would not have to go out on a second lap. The only other issue I had after that was a bee in my helmet that I had to stop for. The last 2 or 3 miles went very fast, and when I pulled up to the line, I still had about 15 minutes to kill. I sat for a few more minutes. I wasn't tired & my legs felt good because I never reached race effort. Finally, I decided to go on back out & ride the loop again. I really enjoyed the flow of the trail this time without as many errors. I still made a tactical mistake on the longer uphill section and did not downshift in time, but other than that, road the loop much cleaner & faster. I was still careful, as I wanted to make sure I finished. I hope that my confidence will improve over the next few months as I mountain bike race again, but no matter what, it is always a joy just to be ridin' in the woods!

Great job to Jay & Jason for fighting hard to overcome their mechanicals and finish so well. Brian just wasn't having a good day and that can be hard to overcome. Keith stepped up and did well in his first Sport race. He would have been assured a top spot in Beginner based on his time, but he's already prepping for next year. I could learn a thing or two watching my fellow team members. Physically I could have done much more in this race as I felt very good, but I played it conservatively & don't feel I gave it my best effort once things began to unravel. Lesson learned. Clean slate for Castlewood.