MNSCS #5 Red Wing Memorial Classic

Yeah Me!! I finally did it after 4 years of racing I got my first overall win! And I worked for it!

What a fun race! I generally in the past have not appreciated the Red Wing course, but Sunday's race was different. We woke up and it was still hot and muggy as usual in Red Wing, but as the sun came up and burned away the fog the humidity lifted slightly and made the day much more bearable.

We decided to spend the night at a nearby campground with the Hendricks and Ray, so we arrived on Saturday afternoon and set-up camp and then headed to the trail for a pre-ride. We all started together and then shortly after Scot and Jordan headed on the citizen loop and then Matt, Ray and Kevin went ahead and Micole and I rode the lap together, chatting and just getting to know the trail. We finished up and I wanted to go for another lap at a quicker pace, but the lightening and thunder had started and we could hear sirens in the background. So we packed up and left for the campground.

In the morning we woke up at 5:30am to get breakfast and get out of there to get Devon and Taylor to the course by 8:15am, they did not get a chance to pre-ride but they were both confident that they wanted to race this course. They both did great. Taylor finished just in front of Devon and again they both had smiles on when they finished. Neither one had a competitor in their age bracket, but they finished 9 and 10 respectfully out of 12.

Jordan's race went great, she looked awesome as she flew past the start/finish line. She said the race went well and she had fun. She finished 1st for the all the ladies out of 6 and 41st out of 63 for the all the citizen riders.

Early in the day I wasn't so sure how the day was going to do, I had eaten some things that I would normally not eat and drank some cappuccino and that I would not usually do on a race morning and my stomach was yelling at me. I managed to force myself to eat a bagel with peanut butter at about 9:30am which was probably a very good thing for me to do. As I was waiting for Jordan to take off I was being heckled by Janet Atkinson, she was trying to psych me out, but nothing was getting through the cappuccino. Shortly after Jordan took off I got changed into my brand new MORC ladies jersey, which I absolutely love, and I went to warm up. My warm up consisted of 1 lap around the top of the bluff to get my legs going and then I went down the road all the way to the main street and then back up, I was totally surprised when I got to the top in short order. I then proceeded to do 3 more laps around the top of the bluff at 160 HR (my high during a race is low 170's), then I did 2 more laps at a recovery HR. My warm up was about 25 minutes and was absolutely perfect I finished up at about 10:35 am and then went back to sit for a few minutes and make sure I was totally ready for the race. I told Matt which bottles I needed when and I headed for the start/finish line.

At the start line Janet was heckling again but I was already in race mode. I glanced around at the riders at the line and then we were off. I rode past most of the riders right off the bat and had only 2 ladies in front of me; Lori Belz and Becki Alexander. I know both these riders are great so I was going to need to ride strong to hang with them. Becki was in 1st and I was sticking right with Lori. When the trail finally opened up to the 1st long double track section I kicked into a high gear and passed Lori. At this point I had know idea where Becki was, but I knew I wanted to catch her if I could. I rode as fast as I could and passed a lot of guys at this point and then I eyed Becki, I continued to push as hard as I could and I caught up to and passed Becki. At this point I knew I had to stay strong and make sure not to push so hard that I ran out of steam before the end of the race. The rest of the race I concentrated on passing as many guys as I could and riding smooth. By the top of the Stairway to Heaven hill on the 2nd lap I glanced back and I saw no one. So I hopped back on my bike and I knew the only way I could lose at this point was to crash and get hurt or to have a mechanical. I rode the rest of the lap smooth and on my way out of the rock quarry right before the last climb I saw Lori coming through the quarry. I continued to push hard and finished 56 seconds ahead of Lori for the overall women's win. I finished 57 out of 113 sport riders. That was so fun! I conserved when I needed to and I pushed hard when I needed to. I drank enough and I took my gels. All my trials and errors from past races help this race come together for a great finish.

Matt did a great job! He rode his hardtail for the 1st time this year, he has never been able to get comfortable on his supercaliber, and finished 21st out of 33 racers. He came back happy and looked strong throughout the whole race. It is so important to ride a bike you are comfortable with.

Wyatt raced in the kids race and came across the line 2nd he was so happy. He did great I always love watching him stand up and pedal. He is so smooth and he his going to kick it someday out on all the courses.

I'll post pictures soon from the race.