sweet little tiny infant baby jesus i have seen the light. i get it now. i totally get it. i don’t have to be afraid anymore. truly a day for rejoicing.
i raced the first ‘cross race of the season today in the pouring rain and the mud and the off camber shit and mud and the rain and the mud. and last year i would have cried or dropped the f-bomb all day, but this year i totally loved it and had a blast. today, the ‘cross manifesto worked.and this is huge people. huge.
i got to the course late and barely eeked out a pre-ride on the (dry at the time) course. then instead of warming up any more (it was already puring by that point anyway) i watched the men’s 4 race where 3 out of 5 dudes did all variations on a theme of skidding out, 180’s, 360’s, and sliding under the yellow caution tape wall of doom; you name it - many did not make it down a very slippery downhill.
and then i lined up. with judi, who was doing her first ‘cross race ever (and by the way, rocked it) and she was asking me what in the hell i had gotten her into. and i didn’t really know cause i didn’t even always know why i did it, but i just hoped to hell she liked it; cause i was gonna feel really bad if she felt like i sometimes did at races, especially rainy muddy ones - all scared and sometimes wanting to cry before, during or when it was over.
they had call ups according to order of registration and out of 26 girls, i was number 24.
and then it was all just bunch of turns and crazy hard off camber ups and slippery downs and mud and rain and more mud and rain. and i moved up a couple of spots from my call up position, but not many.
i didn’t crash into or under the yellow caution tape wall of doom, but i did get stung by a bee and was convinced for half a lap that he was just stuck in my happy face sock stinging me over and over.
the course felt like the wide open prairie after riding singletrack for weeks on end. those trails taught me a thing or two about a thing or two.
i didn’t rock it or kick any ass out there today nor do i really care cause for me, today’s race was epic. in more ways than one.
bit of a ‘cross baptism i suppose what with all that water all over the place and stuff.
amen.
7 comments:
Finally!!! You definitely looked like you were having a ball out there. Epic conditions for sure, but what a blast, slip sliding all over the place.
And the bee casualty list is adding up. You, me, pope, duane...sounds like the ohio folks are conspiring.
Great race. Now you see why we love something so clearly stupid!
Welcome.
aw man, you can add Teri, Lindsay and Keirsta to list of sting-ees. And Bill Meek too who didn't even race but got stung while we were all together talking about all our different bee stings.
It was a great day. Mostly just so happy that I was happy and enjoyed it all.
I really do get it now - and the rain and mud just totally takes all of the stupid insanity up a huge notch.
Nothing is more fun than a 'cross race in the rain......
mud goes good with anything!! You and Judi ROCK!!! I am still far down on the list of the "to chicken for this" stuff but I love reading about your mountains you are climbing.
i have no idea how i found my way to your blog, but i couldn't agree with your cross experience more. what an amazing day of mud, rain and beer. i can not wait til the next race!
you were SO great and i loved riding with you!! you are SO fun girl! it WAS a BLAST!!! YAYYYY! maybe we should do the rain dance for harbin park!
Hallelujah...she's seen the light! Ain't worth doing it if it's not fun!
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