Well, for a couple of years I have been wanting to race my mountain bike but for various medical / school commitments I just couldn't. For the last month or so, my friend Betty and I have been planning on making the first of the Arkansas Mountain Bike Championship Series in Barling called Springhill and continuing on throughout this year's series.
It couldn't have been a better day for a 10 mile flat nontechnical twisty mountain bike course. I lined up (in the front) with 10 other girls at about 10:20 after Aaron lined up with about 20 other boys...
In the pit, the girls were talking a suprising amout of smack...One proclaimed she was going to win, the other said no one could keep up with her for the first 15-20 minutes. I also learned that you can, apparently, race beginner multiple years. The first place girl has raced beginner for 3 years, the second for 2 years. Hmmmm. I'm not calling them sandbaggers, but AMBCS should reconsider that rule. I mean, I'm gonna take my full beginner season, too.
I just lined up on the front row, I figured that I could ride with the leaders, so I positioned myself really well throughout the whole race. We take off and I sit in third the whole race, almost. I'm second a few times, but sit on #2s wheel and made her do most of the work. We tried to catch the first place girl, but she got a good break on us and we couldn't recover. Finally, with about a mile to go, there's a break in the woods and my friend Betty is there to cheer me on. She says "Good job Sarah, you have to go now." she yells "you have to go NOW" 2-3 times, and I stand up and pass the second place girl. I have second pretty secured, pounding my big ring when there's a confusing intersection...everyone's yelling "go right" "go right" and I go way too right....shit!! I have to stop, turn my bike around and she passes me again. I roll in #3 and satisfied with my first race.
The smack talkers roll in fourth and way the hell back there. I had a freaking blast the whole day. Everyone was really supportive. Betty won her sport race against a tough field of 5 hungry girls...Aaron missed a turn and had to backtrack losing his top five placement to finish 10 of 20...still really frigging good for such a competitive class.
I don't think I rode as fast as I could have...I'm still nervous with people on my wheel so close on the trail. I've gotta practice that, and I've got to practice taking off the line. A lot to learn, but a heck of a fun experience.
Place On the podium, baby.
time 53ish minutes
average speed 11.5
distance 10.2 miles
Don't let the smile and sweet demeanor of this pretty girl fool you. She will not hesitate to leave you in the dust!
I knew you had it in you, Sarah, when you told me the story of that one area (on the Womble, I think) where you endo'd and refused to be kicked in the ass like that and went back and did the bump again, and endo'd again, and over and over until you had flipped yourself head over heels 5 times. On the sixth, you made the bump your bitch. THAT is the heart of someone who will stand on the podium. As your hubby said, 'You Go Girl!'
PS: Congrats to you too Aaron - wow, great results. The rest of the world now recognizes you two as something I already knew you were - winners.
Thanks for sharing that Sarah, and great race you two.
Riding with you both made me realize how slow I am. Particularly that time when I was going downhill and saw Aaron already climbing back up to do it again. He still reached the bottom just behind me
Bitches!
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Working "hard," or the perception of working hard, doesn't really mean anything. Sweating, vomiting, and breathing hard could be a good workout or a tropical disease kicking in.-Dan John
Unfortunately there's no way I can get off Saturday to race. I thought you and Lisa were going to do the du...I considered it, but I'm leading a ride at Camp Robinson with Betty for Chainwheel on Sunday then we're heading to Mountain Home to camp and pre-ride the Pigeon Roast course on Monday.
Talk about Amazing Race??!! Great job Sarah-we knew you had it in you and now everyone else knows too, including those smack talkers! Aaron-you antigravity monster...way to go. You should both be very proud. God, now I'm never going to be able to ride with you guys again, if it wasn't bad enough trying to LEARN to ride a bike behind you..keeping up is impossible. Bitches.
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The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is like an eggs-and-ham breakfast: the chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed'.
WOW, Sarah! WOW! You're a racer-chick. A mt-bk-off-road racer chick!
That is so very cool.
Too bad you aren't going to Cedar Glades, because it's very very pretty right now.
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Sarah RULES!!!!!! Huge UPS to you, sister. I'm sure it's just one of many more to come. I wanna race now...
On a personal note--good job dusting the trash-talkers. When I first started club rides I outclimbed a cocky guy on a Litespeed when I was riding my Dick's Sporting Goods hybrid...suh-weet. He gave me this didainful look at the beginning of the ride, and I was thinking, "We'll see, we'll see..."
I'm late in reading this, but big congrats Sarah! You should be very proud of yourself. Racing is a lot harder than practice rides. That adreniline factor can either give you the push that you need, or cripple you. I know it kicked my ass at the 100 minutes of CARP last summer.
I know what you mean about sandbaggers. My group was full of them. More than half those guys should have been racing sport, not beginner. Glad to see that you've advanced so much. You still riding that sweet SS? You gonna start racing it?
Way to go Silly. That is really great to podium on your first race. How much road biking do you do? Sorry to ask, some of the expert racers around my area have been all over me about riding the road. They say it would help my performances racing.
As far as the sandbagging goes, I am a second year beginner. I raced 7 races last year and the closest I came to the podium was 4th place. I have raced one race this year in the beginners and came in 5th place. If I podium I will move up to sport. I think moving up in class should be based on performance. It seems like from what I have experienced the sand bagging thing goes on every where, but I really don't think a person is sandbagging just because they have been in beginner multiple years. Now if they are wining beginner races, there lap times are that of a mid pack sport rider and they have raced multiple years, the person should probably move up.
I'm not calling anyone a sandbagger. Each girl deserved their ranking, thats for sure. It's just unusual for me to think of a multiple year beginner.
I appreciate all of your support. It means a ton and has served as motivation throughout this week's workouts (including the hill repeats).
I ride a TON of road miles... I've been logging between 180-200 road miles a week, and it's making a huge difference in my endurance. I also do intervals and hill repeats on the road, so it's 90% of my training.
Absolutely I rode the Trance!! I named her Malibu Stacy, and I love her. I sold the ss about a month ago, and I really don't miss it. I liked the simplicity of the single speed, but I didn't take to it very well.
I'm not calling anyone a sandbagger. Each girl deserved their ranking, thats for sure. It's just unusual for me to think of a multiple year beginner.
I appreciate all of your support. It means a ton and has served as motivation throughout this week's workouts (including the hill repeats).
I ride a TON of road miles... I've been logging between 180-200 road miles a week, and it's making a huge difference in my endurance. I also do intervals and hill repeats on the road, so it's 90% of my training.
Absolutely I rode the Trance!! I named her Malibu Stacy, and I love her. I sold the ss about a month ago, and I really don't miss it. I liked the simplicity of the single speed, but I didn't take to it very well.
The jump from beginner to sport is a big one. A lot of the sport riders I know have structured training programs and ride between 4 and 6 times a week. A lot of people in the beginner class may ride three times a week at the most. Unless they have a gift riding 3 times a week is not enough to compete in sport class. This were you get multi year beginners from. The beginner is not a good name for the beginner catagory. I really think they should call it something else or create a new catagory for those who just race, and don't necessarily train to race, but are not really beginners on the mountain bike.
I was afraid you say you did most of your riding on the road. I like riding my MTB so much I have a hard time making myself ride my road bike, it is just not as fun as riding my mountain bike, plus it is way more dangerous than mountain bikiing ever thought about being.
Good luck with the racing keep us posted on how you do.
To be fair, most of my "training" is a 20 mile commute each way 5 times a week. I leave the house for work at 6:45 a.m., meet my friend and we ride in together. Then at about 6:30 I ride home. So, it's just the way I build riding into my world. Today, though, since I didn't have to work, I mountain biked about 20 miles of singletrack, or so and tomorrow I'll preride Sunday's course a few times. It's not very "structured" but it works. I just really like to ride my bike.
To be fair, most of my "training" is a 20 mile commute each way 5 times a week. I leave the house for work at 6:45 a.m., meet my friend and we ride in together. Then at about 6:30 I ride home. So, it's just the way I build riding into my world. Today, though, since I didn't have to work, I mountain biked about 20 miles of singletrack, or so and tomorrow I'll preride Sunday's course a few times. It's not very "structured" but it works. I just really like to ride my bike.
I love to be able to commute to work on my bike. I would save a fortune on gas. Miles whise it is not that bad, but I would have to ride through one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in town. A good chance that I would get mugged or may be worse. Also I would have to ride on some pretty busy streets. My home town (Louisville KY,) was named one of the most unsafe places for pedestrians and bicycles. I know, I need to move.
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