Jingle Cross Rock (the long version)

Friday:
After I got off work at 1:00pm, I made the trip to IA City to pre-ride the course for Saturday (why, I don't know, because I didn't race Saturday). It was pretty sweet.
Saturday:
After I got off work at 5:00pm, I made the trip back to IA City. I pre-rode the course for Sunday. Sweeter. Then headed to Jim's. He was getting ready to go for a townie ride with a group so we joined. The ride was supposed to start at 8:00pm, but didn't start til at least 8:30pm. We met at the Old Capitol. At first I thought I was going to be the only girl, but was glad when Karla, Jackie, and Christy showed up. I think there were around 20 of us that showed up. We rode through the streets of IA City, on sidewalks, through parking lots, on walking trails, through a cemetry, down a really steep hill that was extremely scary on a fixie, up a gravel hill that everyone ran up (except for those on geared bikes), back down the same hill (really scary on a fixie), and some other crazy places. The ride stopped at a bar, where we would stay for quite some time. I was the only under-age person there so the bartender made me wear these toothpick like things in my hair. They eventually fell out though. After the bar we made our way to Coralville to JM's house for a bonfire. We were there until 12:30ish. He rode us back to IA City. I hadn't ate supper yet (I forgot to mention this earlier). Everyone else was hungry too, so we stopped at Paul Revere's (I think?) to grab some grub at 1:00am. Then I headed back to Jim's and went to bed by 2:00am. Talk about a late night. It was a good time though!
Sunday:
I woke up at 8:30am. Grabbed some bagels at Brueggers Bagel shop. Then I headed to the course. I hung out and watch the races. John Eppen kicked some butt in the SS and cat 3/4 race. That was pretty cool. To top it all off, he even raced the Elite race later on! My race wasn't until 1:30 so I had plenty of time to kill. I started warming up at 12:30 because I was bored and there was a break in the action.
The Race:
21 other women lined up for the Elite race. I think about 10 of them got called up (including myself) for front row starting. Pretty neat that I got to start on the front row. I was scared that I would hold some people up. I don't think I did, but who knows. I couldn't decide on a goal for the race. I kind of just wanted to finish I guess. Being in the money would be cool, I was thinking, but it paid 18 deep so I wasn't too worried about that, being there was only 21 people in the race total. So, I started the race, without any goals. The race started extremely fast as expected. I stayed with the lead pack for the first 1/2 lap. Not sure where I got gapped, but I did. I was left strangling by myself for quite a while. A group of 3 or 4 others caught me and we worked together. Eventually two of them got in front of me and the other girl, so then it was down to two of us. She eventually dropped off and I was alone again, until the last lap that is. Pam Hinton was coming up behind me strong. She caught me on the hill run-up. I stayed with her and dropped her through the last barriers. I came across the line 11th. Not bad. The last lap going up the run-up was a killer. My legs were shot. I felt like I wasn't moving. It was weird. This race isn't comparable to any other race I've done. It was such an adrenalin rush running up the hill, people screaming and the radio blasting. I couldn't hear myself breathing. People were cheering me on all over the course (thanks everyone!). It's a great feeling to be at races as big as this one and people know your name! I really liked the course and the Meehan's did an excellent job on the race! Much thanks goes out to them!
The Course:
Wow. This course rocked! I started off with a fairly long straight-away and then hit some s-curves. More straight away section and then some climbing up Mr. Krumpet. Finally a short downhill where you could keep your momentum going into the next sections. I don't really remember the order of what came after all this so here is some other things that were included. One that really sticks in my mind, and I can feel in my legs today, is the run-up up Mt. Krumpet. At the bottom was an extremely high barrier that I had to stop in front of and then hop over (I'm not that coordinated yet). Then it was up up and away running up the hill (or walking, or prancing, or trying to run, whatever you want to call it). I still haven't figured out to how to shoulder my bike so I just pushed it. Seemed to work alright for me. After we crested the hill there was a really bumpy downhill. My wrist popped out every time and now it hurts today. Oh well. There were two sets of 3 barriers. I hit them rather fast for me. I guess the practice I had on Tuesday worked well. It was the first time I had ever practiced dismounting and mounting my bike. (Note to self: practice and train for cyclocross next season). The course ran through a few barns, one which was dark and kind of creepy, another that had a sand pit in it that was rideable but still squirly, and another that was just paved. I really liked this course. It was fast and flowed really well.

So my legs are feeling the burn today, along with my wrist. But I don't care because it's the end of the season. What's in store next?? I haven't a clue! I'll try to post a season re-cap sometime this week. For now, keep on riding!!!!
-A