Iowa Games

The Mountain Bike Race:
How exciting can a flat, 5 mile course be? Those of you who have been to Peterson Pits know what I'm talking about. There was quite a bit of sand this year. I thought more than last year. Maybe that's why last year went better for me than this year. For the first lap I rode most of it alone, picking off people and getting caught. At the beginning of the second lap I was caught by another woman. I thought there was only 2 women in the entire race, but there were actually 3. I was caught off guard. She came around me and I quickly grabbed her wheel. I stuck with her the rest of the race. That was until the last sandy section before the finish. Must have took it too fast or something. I ended up with a mouthful of sand and a 2nd place. Ah well, I still got the gold for my age group...possibly because I was the only one in it...haha. I tried to ride conservatively because I didn't want to destroy myself for today or next week.

The Road Race:
Awesome weather. Nice and cool with hardly any wind. It was still a tough race though. Two nice long/steep hills that broke up the 60ish riders. I did the one lapper. Once again, trying to be conservative for next week. Not sure if riding with the one lapper/beginners was a smart choice, but all in all it went well. Several of the riders had never raced before, let alone rode with a group that size. The group split up on the first climb, which was nice. I tried to stay upright and out of crashes. It was probably the most cautious race I've ever ridden. I saw a crash happen that looked pretty bad. Hope the guy is alright. It looked like he went into the left hand lane and I did notice there was a van right there. I asked people if he was hit and they said no. Definitely didn't need a repeat of a few weekends ago in Peoria. Nothing too exciting happened during the race other than that. There was one other female riding with the lead group so I tried to pace myself off that and keep an eye on the situation. The last climb came, which was about a mile from the finish. I started it near the back of the pack - poor positioning on my part. I ended up moving to the front in the middle of the climb and taking over the pace. I tried to push it fairly hard to the top. Once I got to the top, I put it in the big ring and put my head down. It split up the group into just 7 or 8 people - me being the only woman. Exactly what I was hoping would happen. The second group was right behind us so I was encouraging the guys to keep the pace high. I came around and pulled hard towards the finish line. I knew I wasn't going to be contending for the sprint after that pull. I was hoping to lead out a friend. Ended up he got 2nd in a photo finish. I came across for 7th and first in my age group. It felt good to get out and climb some longer hills. The downhills were gnarly. My max speed was just under 48mph. Our average was 23ish. That's all I got for now. It was a fun weekend! My last weekend of racing in Iowa, sort of depressing. Ah well, I'll be back in the spring. Next up: Superweek!! Let the racing begin....
-A