Sandra’s U.S. Cup XC #5 - Race Report - August 7 - Mt. Snow, VT

The drive to Vermont on Thursday with Amanda and Kaesy turned into a 12-hour adventure of its own, including Sheila the GPS taking us on some interesting routes, several pee stops (maybe I shouldn’t have made it a six-espresso day!), and the revelation of the short cup at Starbucks. My first experience with the eastern U.S. has been pretty good. It’s very pretty over here, with lots of green rolling hills and quaint towns that could have been copied directly from the Gilmore Girls.

Amanda and I moosing around in Hoosick, New York.

Vermont felt quite rushed, as we arrived late Thursday night and the race was on Saturday. I only pre-rode one lap of the course on Friday, which was just enough to get a taste of the steep, loose fire road climbs and rooty, rocky singletrack. Several mud puddles ensured there would be no chance of staying clean.

I was pumped for the race as I lined up on Saturday morning under sunny skies and to the thumping beats of pre-race music and an enthusiastic announcer at the line. I felt awesome at the start, easily surging into the top five on the first pitch only to hear Kika busting out the “wooh wooh!” of the Canadian train beside me. Nice! I stayed in contact with the world-class ladies at the front (Kika, Georgia, Katerina, Willow, Heather) into the first singletrack, but eventually had to settle into a manageable pace.

I'm having fun (and so is my ponytail)!

This was finally a race where everything came together - good legs, motivated mind, solid bike handling (although when I got tired in the final two laps of four, those started to go a little…), and no flat tires! I held onto my top 10 position for most of the race, battling it out with many ladies, until the final lap, where birthday girl Zephanie threw down an attack I could no longer respond to. She snagged 10^th and I had to settle for a hard-fought 11^th.

Maybe I paid for my super start effort with some fading at the end, but it was worth it to ride near the front! The nagging deep lung cough for the rest of the day and night reassured me that I had given it my all. Check out www.velonews.com for the Mt. Snow race coverage and a muddy portrait of a smiling post-race me!

The day after the race, I met up with Amanda, Kaesy, and Peter for a skills clinic on the Mt. Snow 4X course. Our instructor, Jay, was awesome, and we definitely benefitted from practicing pumping, cornering, and jumping. We even raced (I won)!

It's a race! Amanda and I racing down the 4X course on Sunday.

Now I’m chilling in a farm house near Windham, NY, doing things like riding my bike (shocking!) and having ice cream and espresso for breakfast (gasp)! I discovered something wonderful at an Italian deli here: espresso soda called Manhattan Special. That also tastes yummy over vanilla ice cream. Mmmmmmmmm…. I race this Saturday in the U.S. Cup final here at Windham Mountain!