Cat Claw Classic- Solavaca, TX 04-25-2010
What a perfect weekend to race! I am going to start this off with a huge THANK YOU to Mack out at Solavaca for letting us crazy mountain bikers come play on his land. These trails are awesome!
We pulled into Glen Rose around noon on Saturday searching for a bike shop to mount up my new tubeless tire that I received the night before. My new Geax Gato was hopefully going to help me tame the Culo de Gato on Sunday! We arrived at Stumpblaster Bicycles in Glen Rose and the owner took care of my tire issue while I browsed around their new store and chatted with his wife Lisa about clothing. They quickly got me on my way and we headed over to Solavaca to set up camp and pre-ride. The area had gotten a bad storm the night before so I was a little more than concerned that it was going to be a mudfest out there. I was anxious to get on the trail and check it out. My crew and I spent the next hour trying to get the camp set up. The wind was really kicking so it was complete entertainment to watch the tent go up… (and quickly come down). When I think they had it all under control I decide to hit the trail for some pre-ride action. The first part of the trail was dry and fast so my fears were getting eased a bit until I hit the creek crossings. Tomorrow was going to be a mess for sure. I finish up my pre-ride and head back to camp to clean up and start some dinner. We had a great evening full of fabulous food (everyone kicked in a portion of dinner so it was a great group effort!), a few cold beers, and great company. I called it a night fairly early so that I could get some good rest.
Race morning came way to fast! We all got up and around and started eating breakfast when we realized that the Cat 1 racers were already going off. It was 8:30 and we all thought they started at 9:00! Luckily our campsite was close to one section of the trail so we headed over to cheer on our Cat 1 racing buddies. After our morning cheer, it was time to get warmed up for my race. And that’s when the nerves kicked in! I was still about an hour out from my race start time, but I was getting really antsy about warming up, so I rode up to the expo area and chatted with some friends and killed some time then headed out to the road for some sprints. I did a 20 minute warm up then made my way to the start line. It looked like we were going to have a good showing of girls today! We had 8 girls in our class!!! That’s awesome! We all chatted it up a bit and gave our last minute words of encouragement as we all lined up for the gun. This group of girls are all awesome! It was going to be a good race for sure. The official counts down and we’re off. I take off as always… hauling as much butt as I can. I come into the woods first and then I’m quickly picked off by Charity and Brenda… dang those girls are FAST! I was able to hold on to third position going into the first rocky climbing section. I had everyone on my tail so I was pushing as hard as I could. I came to a rock garden section and my wheel gets off track and I veer to the left into a larger rock so I have to come to a stop. I thought I was far enough off the trail, but apparently I was not… I see Amy come up behind me and slam on her brakes as she comes off her bike, then another girl behind her.. crap! I hop back on the trail, we’re all calling out to see if everyone is ok. I’m feeling bad for causing a pile up in the first part of the race! Everyone was ok, and we’re back to the race. Clare got around me on the flats leading up to the Culo de Gato, but I make my pass around her just before the climb. We come up to the Culo de Gato and I’ve got Alicia right on my tail. Ugh… she caught me already!!!!!!!!!!!!! She started a minute back from me! Dang. So she talks me up the climb and we go into the decent with me in front. I let her pass before a small technical section because I didn’t want to hold her back. You go girl! Then I hear another girl behind me and it’s Tommie. I let her pass too, and then I try with everything I have to just stay on her tail. I was still in third position and I didn’t want any of the other girls to catch me! We head into the flats and you could see a bunch of the other racers and all the girls are yelling encouraging words to everyone. I love this group! I see Charity and I know she’s at least a minute or two up on me. I didn’t even see Brenda. Dang that girl has some LEGS! I look behind me and I don’t see anyone on my tail. But that did not mean that I could stop pushing. I knew that someone was close. After the flats come several creek crossings which were a complete muddy slopfest by the time I got to them. I made it up all but two of them! I head into the feedzone going into lap two and Larson tells me I’m 30 seconds back from the girl in front of me. That girl is not in my class, but I still want to try to catch her. I grab my bottle from my crew and head into lap two. My legs were pretty fatigued going in and the first climbs were tough! Someone yells that I’m about 2 minutes back from Charity. Ugh… that’s going to be TOUGH! Time to kick it up. I was feeling my legs for sure, but was having a blast riding this trail. It’s just a fun course! I make it to the Culo de Gato again and then go into the flats. I hear someone behind me so I kick it up on the flats. I see Charity again and it appears that she has put a little more time on me. We yell at each other and giggle, then keep on hammering. Again, no Brenda. It was time again for the sloppy creek crossings and I walk the same two that I did on lap 1. I was a muddy mess! I came out of one of the crossings into a climb and see Charissa from the 19-29 age group. She said she was not feeling well and was not having a good race. I tell her to keep up with me… we only had 2 miles left to go! Almost done. She kept with me until the loose climb and then I lost her. I came up on Charity with about a mile to go … What? What happened? She uttered that she had broken her chain about a mile back. Oh man! That sucks! I know how that goes from my 6 hour race earlier this spring. Luckily she was almost done! That moved me up into 2nd position with less than a mile to go. I think that I had put some good time on the other girls so I pushed for that last mile to the finish line. I was glad to be done! I pushed pretty hard during this race. And now it was time to book it back to camp, change into my running clothes and go for a run. Now let me tell you… I know this is a necessary part of training for Xterras, but it’s my least favorite part. I was uttering several curse words during this “training” exercise. I was finally done and I headed back to camp to clean myself up a bit. I was covered in mud! My crew informed me that I had in fact come in second place. That’s my best finish yet! Thanks to all the TMBRA crew and Mack that put on a fantastic race! Thanks Amy and Beth for being my crew this weekend! You guys rocked it! And all the girls that I raced with who again pushed me past what I thought was possible.
