What Just Happened?! - Part 4

Well... People kept telling me I was fast, but I didn’t really believe them. All the guys I rode with were still a little faster than me for the most part, and I didn't really have any girls that I rode with at this point, so I really didn't have any clue if I was just normal, or if I was actually kinda speedy. I decided I wanted to see for myself if I was really as fast as other girls out there. I think it was Hell Ride 2008 that I made the decision to give racing a shot. To explain, Hell Ride is this ride organized every year that starts at the South Fork Campground in the San Bernardino Mountains and follows almost exclusively single track down to Redlands. It's about 30 miles I think and we always have a huge range of rider abilities out there, so for some it's more hellish than for others. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I surprised a lot of people on this ride, and after being dubbed an "official bad ass" and given more knucks than I've ever received on a single day, my mind was pretty much made up. I wanted to give this a shot.

My first race was in November 2008 in Fontana. No other girls in my category (sport) to test my skills against, but I checked out my time and discovered I was in line with the expert girls and even some of the pros, which made me pretty happy. Decided I should give this racing thing a try for real. I have to say, I have really surprised myself with how sweet my race season has been. I did NOT expect to do so well. I took part in the Southridge Winter Series in the “Open Women” class. For some reason they didn’t have a women’s expert class, so the expert girls just raced Open. I did not make it to enough events to win the series due to a shoulder injury, but I did end up winning every race I was at. I thought the Southridge series was pretty fun, a big variety of courses considering the hill that they have them on. Next up was the 1st of the Golden State Downhill series, also in Fontana. The competition here was a lot better. I actually had 6 other girls in my class!! Hooray for other girls that ride downhill!! Actually, as much as I like seeing other girls out, this made me really nervous because a couple of the other girls were talking smack about how easy the course was and to me it was the hardest course (although also very fun) that I'd ridden yet. Turns out I was worried for nothing, all the girls that were talking smack probably found it easier because they were going slower, or were just trying to psych themselves up to ride. I missed out on the win, but came a close second and was still pretty happy with that since it was the most challenging course I had been on yet and I was still recovering from the shoulder injury. I was kinda sad to miss out on the winners jersey though.

Before I knew it, it was time for Sea Otter. I was a little nervous because I’m not very good with jumps and had heard the course had lots of them, but I got there and after a few days of practice, I was feeling a lot better about my jumping abilities. If there is one thing racing downhill does, it’s push you to progress your skills, which I love. My race run was for the most part one of my smoother runs on the course. A minor incident with my foot coming unclipped probably slowed me down a few seconds, and certainly scared the crap out of me because it was on a flat out speed section of the course, but other than that, the run was smooth and sweet. Came across the finish line to hear ‘and with the fastest time so far…” And then my name. I managed to hold onto the fastest time of the day after all 8 girls did their runs, and took home the yellow jersey from Sea Otter. Hooray!! Another Canadian got second place that day. Go Canada!

Three other races since Sea Otter. One in Santa Ynez, which was fun, but kind of a bust because I was the only girl in my class; Angel fire, which was also really fun, but ended up being kind of a bust because I flatted on my race run, and then my most recent race, the 2nd Golden State Downhill race at Woodward West. For a longer story on that one, see my blog from June 1, but long story short, I won the Pro class!!

My race season is pretty much over for the year at this point. One more race in Fontana (Golden State #3), but I'm going to miss out on the Final for that series in Mammoth because we'll be in Whistler that week. I am kinda bummed to miss it but SUPER STOKED for Whistler, so not really that sad about it. I would love to do a few more races, but they are all too far away (in States with "Real" mountains), and it is just too expensive to travel with my bike. The current plans are to petition to officially go pro for next year and save my cash to try to hit some of the bigger races on the ProGRT next year.