Folsom Rodeo Race Report

Velogirl and I headed out bright and early Sunday morning to our first race of the new cyclocross season. I was all nerves, being a racing virgin and all, but velogirl was great company the whole way which was an amazing help. We arrived and were surprised by the number of women at the event. I think we had 10 women in the C class compared to the 2 from the year before. Maybe girls are catching on to cross? I'll definitely be jumping on that bandwagon. So we got dressed and took off for a few exploratory laps of the course getting back in time to watch the Men C group start. After they took off we fixed a few mechanical issues, got hydrated and took one more lap. They started the Women C group 15 minutes after the A & B's. It was a Leman style start over a mountain of wood chips. Pretty fun but very unstable. On to the bikes and the race had really begun. We had a slow start but luckily I was able to catch up and hang behind velogirl as she passed most of the girls who had gotten a better start. Stayed that way for the first 2 1/2 laps until velogirl had a fall before one of the barriers. Silly me was still not really in a "race" mentality and was about to stop and help her up but she urged me on with a forceful "go, go, go!" So away I went. At that point I was out by myself with no one I could see in front or behind me so I pushed as hard as I could. By the last lap I had a side stitch and was pretty much hyperventilating but once I heard the magic words "one more lap" I continued to give it everything I had. The finish was right after a nice fast descent and it couldn't have come sooner for me. Our group represented with me, velogirl and another velogirl Kim taking 4th, 5th and 6th respectively.

The course was a mix of barriers, fast fun single track, a little pavement, some grass, one very tight squeeze through a gate and a very muddy "creek" crossing. Great race, great company and an all around fantastic time. I'm totally hooked now and am ready to go for next race. I've attached the pic of all three of us velogirls during the start. Here's a link to more pics.

www.racemtbikes.com/FlsmCxWmn&Jrs/index.htm

Erin

Looks like fun! Congrats on finishing so well.

V.

Wow! Sounds challenging and super-fun! Congrats on a great race- I envy your bravery and dexterity!

That looks like so much fun! I can't imagine running in my biking shoes, though.

Do you wear special shoes?

It was such a blast. The shoes are mtb so they have tread around the cleats and on the heel to make it easier to walk and run. They also have holes for spikes so you can get better traction running up hill.

Erin

Thanks for posting the dorky pic, E! I actually wrote up a great race report for the forum this morning and my computer froze when I tried to post the pic.

Erin's a natural (and she's still young enough to have some potential). She just started riding cross and her skills are great. She looks like a gazelle when she mounts and dismounts. I predict she'll be kicking some serious boot-ay this season. And she's a blast to ride and race with so I'm glad she's my teammate.

Can't get that dorky photo out of my memory. Here are some good shots of we three velogirls.

www.racemtbikes.com/.../091706FlsmCx215.htm

This is an amazing shot of Erin on the rocky, dusty descent.

www.racemtbikes.com/.../091706FlsmCx195.htm

Here's me on another descent. I don't look half as cool as Erin.

www.bicyclingevents..../091706FlsmCx171.htm

And this is our teammate Kim on the creek run-up (it was super-steep).

Your making me blush.

I love that pic of us all running over the chips. I thought it was so cool with all of us together during the actual race. A lot of the other pics turned out really good as well. You can see the dirt all over us. Cyclocross rocks!