I guess sometimes the pre-ride is more hazardous than the actual race. At least that's how it went for me. Tthis course was pretty challenging technically. There was one spot that was particularly treacherous, a steep sandy descent ending in a left turn to a little uphill. The sand was pretty deep, too. Nevertheless, when we were doing our pre-ride I made it down that nasty little descent twice without incident. But, silly me, I had to do one more pre-ride lap. And for some reason I decided to try to hold my line on that descent instead of just going wherever the bike decided to go. Big mistake. I held my line right into an endo. If that wasn't bad enough, poor Kim Natzel was right behind me and had no where to go but right on top of me. Good thing we were wearing helmets - otherwise we would have clunked our silly skulls together. We were both a little dazed and shaken and I honestly thought that we both might have to call it a day. But after we got up and went back to the cars, we were both feeling better (although bruised and bloodied a little) and decided to race after all. I opted not to wipe the blood off my leg, hoping that it might intimidate the competition (no such luck).
The race itself turned out to be safer for me. I got a good start and was probably in the first five heading into the dirt. Alas, I have all the dirt skills of a roadie, so my good position only lasted about a lap or so. I handled the early technical stuff reasonably well, and actually managed to drop someone on a run-up. Soon enough I got to the dreaded sandy descent, which was all the more scary after my stupid endo. Somehow, I got down the hill rubber side down, let out a big "woo-hoo" and continued on. The second time down, I wasn't quite so graceful and ended up going down with one foot unclipped. Miraculously, I stayed upright, though I nearly took out a photographer.
Eventually, my bumps and bruises started to get the better of me, and I was getting passed by other C racers whom I had been ahead of for two laps. This seemed to be a survivor's course, though, and I passed a few unfortunate crash victims (including Lauren and Erin). On the last lap before the sand, I saw Kim catching up to me, but I was not in the mood to be passed yet again, so I held on for 11th. Maybe not the placing I hoped for, but I had a good ride - my skills sucked less than last week, I stayed upright the whole race, and I managed to chase away the pre-ride endo demon the first time down the slippery, sandy slope. I just hope the worst of the bruises heal in time for next week's race at Candlestick Point.
Performance vs. Goals:
1) Look hot in skinsuit - I guess this would be a matter of opinion. I probably only looked hot to someone who likes old racer chicks covered in dirt (with a sprinkling of blood for effect).
2) Be in the top five after the start - accomplished, although it didn't last long.
3) Rubber side down - accomplished, if we don't count the pre-ride.
4) Improve skills from previous week - partially accomplished - dismounts were a little sloppy, but mounts were much better.
Post race recovery consisted of three Advil and a long soak in the bathtub, followed by some really good leftovers, and last, but not least, ice cream.
