This weekend, the Derby City Cup cyclocross race in Louisville, Kentucky was on the race calendar. That is approximately a 19 hour drive from my home, but only a 3 hour drive from my parents’ in Dayton, OH. The most logical conclusion: fly to mommy and daddy’s, drive to race. Best thing? THEY GOT TO SEE ME RACE!

Funny story about that. They were only going to watch Saturday’s race,  as my father had am enduro of his own on Sunday. Thinking the trace was pod a normal schedule,  I told them to push for my race begin between 2 or 3 o’clock. They book a hotel for Friday night and plan to be home Saturday for dinner. I get to the course for my preride only to find out, thanks to the Neon Velo cycling team, Saturday was a night race and the women weren’t until 6 o’clock. THAT was an awkward call to my parents. They were still able to make it ands apparently spent the whole of Saturday afternoon in Cabelas.

This was my first night race, and the first time I had to plan for a 6 p.m. race. This meant a different eating schedule, bathroom schedule, pre ride schedule and what do I do with my day schedule. Also, I wasn’t just dealing with myself, I was there with 3 other JAM members. We ended up not getting to breakfast until almost noon, this meant I was already short one meal for the day. On top of it, I was not drinking enough and took no electrolytes. I went into the race in a calorif deficit and maybe dehydrated. luckily, the venue offered a fullvhour of course preview two hours before my race time. Combined with my preride on Friday, this was a perfect pre ride. I only had to do a few laps on the course to do the few technical bits I was unable to clear the day before.

The course was freaking awesome. The scariest part for me wad a stair jump that came just after a steep descent. The first few times I encountered it, I did not even try. Then I tried awkwardly pedaling slowly up to it and just ramming my wheel into it (NOT EFFECTIVE). Luckily, after seeing many juniors ride it cleanly, I went ahead and tried it full speed, and cleared it. Throughout the entirety of the weekend, on elements never gave me any problems. I may not have been graceful over it, but it never gave me any issue at all. The rest of the course was very flowy with a few punchey hills. No real choking turns, just one very terribly deep flyover in which I had to shoulder my bike to go up the stairs.

Race time came, and yea, it was dark.  I put clear lenses in my Oakleys, because this is one time fashion could not prevail over function. It didn’t seem dark while we were out there, actually. They had flood lights, and a few people had headlights. I was staged very near the back and had a mediocre start. The start straight was very long, and there was never a real bottleneck. The course was flowy until near the flyover, frankly, at which point it slowly strung out. It was so fast. The fastest race I have done, likely. And being used to going that speed with other people, and encountering each element faster than I anticipated, it was eye-opening to say the least. The course was brutal. My arms hurt so badly, and at 4 to go I was nearly ready to quit. I was racing. This was the first weekend of racing in which I exchanged places within the race. Usually I spend the whole race chasing on after a bad start, or holding my spot. I was frantic, and my legs felt empty. I couldn’t clear some of the hills I was nailing in preride. Was it the darkness? Was it the lack of food? Or was it a week on the bike after nearly three weeks off? I guess I have a few excuses I could use.

I was fighting Emily Kachorek for 15th spot during the latter part of the race. I was passing her in the final sand pit before the barriers. YES! 15th is MINE! Alas, I dropped my bike on the barrier and knocked my wheel askew. Needing to fix it lost me 15th, but I had a solid gap and held on to 16th.

I was cracked. A lot of men dropped out of the race, including teammate Anthony Clark, after mechanicals and finding themselves unable to chase back on this grueling and hella fast course. All in all, I was pleased with 16th.

Day 2’s course was the same, minus some barriers and plus a chicane. But day-um was it faster. And scarier. Unlike the night before we could see how fast we were flying towards the trees and elements. I had good start, but was unable to chase through the mid-race traffic I found myself in. One chick is now on my shit-list. She was SO unbearably aggressive. She was shouldering me, she passed in a sweepy/straight chicane section and exploded a stake, laying out in front of me and causing me to brake and lose two spots. I should have run her over. In the sand pit she shoved me into a wooden pole HARD and my finger exploded. She chopped me multiple times, but never completed the pass and never dropped me! At one point I tried to let her drop me because she clearly thought she deserved to be where she was, but she couldn’t. I finally was able to ditch her, but I am positive she cost me a decent finish. She got in my head. I will find out who this girl is. I will race her again. And when I do, I will chop her SO hard, she won’t know what hit her. But then, I will drop her so hard she ACTUALLY won’t know what hit her. And, I will crop dust her so bad, she may DNF.

That said, I made some “douchy” moves out there. I had to run in the sand once, and you bet I blocked with running my bike in the rut. I passed on the stairs and ran a wide line before mounting, and a rider’s front wheel went into my pedal. By that configuration, I had the turn (in front in wide line) but, I felt bad about it. Then I bobbled on a hill and maybe forced the same rider to dismount.

All I had in me on Sunday was only good enough for 18th place, but, it was a solid weekend of competing and racing. I’m hoping this prepared me for the last few weeks of racing left before the big break leading up to Nationals.

always learning, always striving for more.

Also, this course was oway on my legs. It’s been a while since I was this tore up after a race!