Lowell was my last race of the year. I went into the race hoping to perform similarly to the previous week at Plymouth South, were my legs felt good and I enjoyed the technical stuff. Unfortunately, I miscalculated about the weather. When I left my house it was 60 degrees. I didn't realize how quickly the temperature was going to drop, and when I got to the venue it was pretty chilly. I hadn't brought knee warmers or my winter team jacket. All I had were arm warmers and a wind vest. Yikes! So I put those on and got out on the course as quickly as possible for a warmup and preview. Unfortunately there was a race on before mine, so I only had about 15 minutes for recon. I quickly realized that I was still VERY cold. I put some embrocation on my legs, but it was only for mild conditions, and I could barely feel it. I went to register, got pinned, chatted with teammates, and then went to continue warming up. The wind was so strong and so cold that I didn't ever really get properly warm. I was shivering when I lined up at the start and wasn't feeling too well.I didn't get a good jump off the line and when we came around to the u-turn around the big tree,
someone went down in the chaos, forcing me off my bike. I ran around the tree, then had issues getting back on my bike and clipped in. I slogged across the field and up the muddy incline, where I felt like the ground was sucking me down into it. When we got to the first run up, I tried to ride it because I was able to in the course preview, but my heart and lungs were about to burst and I just couldn't turn the pedals over. I had to get off and walk the rest of the incline. I did all right in the twisty sections, then fumbled my remount after the second run up. Coming into the mud, I decided to try to ride it. I have been practicing riding in mud recently, so thought, why not? I am proud to say that I rode the mud successfully! Of my 4 lap race, I only put a foot down one time in the muddy section. Needless to say, it was so nice that there were so many people there cheering. They seemed to give extra cheers and motivation to those of us who attempted to ride it. Personally, riding the mud was WAY faster then the folks that were running it, plus it was a lot more fun than trudging through mud up to your ankles. ;-)The next three laps were pretty uneventful. I found myself in no man's land. Couldn't see anyone ahead or behind, and I suppose that made me lose some motivation. Also, my legs just wouldn't go. Every time I finished a technical section and knew that I had to sprint out of a corner, or push as hard as I could on the track, I just couldn't do it. Nothing there. It was disappointing, to say the least. On my third lap at one point where the course doubled back on itself, I saw the person behind me getting lapped by the leader. Although they were a long, long way away, I decided then and there that I didn't want to get lapped at my last race! So I picked it up a bit and was never really in any danger of getting lapped. I completed my last lap pretty slowly but satisfied that I hadn't been lapped and reveling in the mud riding.
I look forward to a nice rest and an active winter of fun cross training (mountain biking, xc skiing, swimming, snowboarding, show shoeing, yoga) and getting out on the bike whenever I can.
Here's to a great road and cross season in 2009!
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