Echo Red 2 Red- first race 2014

First Race of the Season Echo Red 2 Red. It is always a little humbling racing so early and living in Spokane. The weather here can be anything from beautiful to 2 feet of snow. This year has been a very up and down year for weather, lending itself to inconsistent training. I had finally bought myself a pair of studded tires for the MTB bike just so I could ride trails a little and not worry about the ice underneath the snow. This is something I should have done years ago. Anyways I was pretty leery about racing this weekend, and very nervous. Echo Red 2 Red has always been a tough race it is between 2 ½ to 3 hours and I always seem to have a rough time and am lucky to be in the top 5 due to fitness level. . This year was different. Saturday morning we woke up in Spokane to 13 degrees with 15 mi hour winds. My husband was dead set on driving the 3 hours south to the race in hopes of finding some warmer weather and sunshine. It is high desert in Echo so usually it is about 50 to 60 and sunny. We showed up to the race site it was about 28 deg out and mildly windy. The question was what to wear, you have to always be concerned about getting mechanical. (If I get a mechanical/flat will I be warm enough and able to get back on the bike). So I had 1 long sleeve jersey, 1 thermal hoody and 1 wind breaker coat. I wore winter riding tights and booties, and winter gloves. I got a little warm out there but was happy to have it all on for the road section back into town. I have been only riding my Ibis tranny for the past 2 months with studs on it, I love that bike despite it beats the crap out of me at times. I was pretty excited to get back on the Mojo SLR for this race. I was really nervous at the start; a few of these girls had beat me the years prior. The race started and I headed out at a good pace. The girl that won last year (Megan) hammered past me on the road section out to the single track. I have learned over the years of racing that I am a very steady racer, I may not be the fastest at short track, but I usually last for a long time. So I reminded myself this is a long race and to ride my own race. So I was pushing at a pace that was working for me. The first part of the race is a little single track down to a creek bed with a bunch of logs and water crossings. I messed up and hopped a log that was actually put in place to block a turn and I went the wrong way. I figured it out fairly quickly and got back on track. This allowed the 3rd place girl to pass me. Realizing we were only in the first 30 min of the race I again reminded myself to just race my own race. We then climbed out of the creek bed area and out into the hills where the majority of the course is located. The single track is pretty impressive here, very flowy and fun and lots of it. It isn’t very technical but very fun just the same. I was racing and having a blast at this point. I had to remind myself to get some nutrition in as 2 ½ hours plus of racing I would need it. I was starting to catch some of the expert men who had started 10 min in front of us and was really just having a great time. I hadn’t seen the 2 girls in front of me for some time, it wasn’t until about 1hr and 45 min into the race when I looked at the hill side ahead and realized the girl that had taken off at the start was right in front of me. I was feeling really good at this point and started putting the hammer down a little and caught her fairly quickly. This race has a huge pay out for men and women (5 deep) each place was a chunk of money. So as I was closing in I was thinking to myself I am going to have second place. I think I may have grinned a few times. So I passed Megan and just kept hammering. I got a little giddy at that point. Just so happy my plan to stay consistent was working out. It wasn’t much after passing Megan that I saw Alice. Again I was feeling really pretty good and knew if I was catching them, that most likely I was feeling better than they were. It was about 4 miles to go and I caught Alice. Oh the smile on my face after passing her, I railed the downhill got to the bottom and she was nowhere in sight. I was so excited. It was about 3 miles of road back to town and to the finish. I knew I was going to have to dig deep and continue to keep the hammer down. I was passing expert men right and left and then I went by one of them and he stayed on me. He rode up next to me and asked if I wanted to work together to get back. It is a tough ride back with the wind and all so I agreed thinking anything to get me back and keep my position. It was awesome, we rode hard taking turns pulling, we got to the finish and again I couldn’t wipe the smile off of my face. I had just won a race I have struggled at for 3 years and on top of it I was getting paid to race on single track. I had put 5 min on second and 7 min on thries. It doesn’t get much better than that in racing. I rode to the car where Kris was waiting still grinning ear to ear. He was pretty excited for me. The Mojo SLR was amazing, taking a 2 month hiatus from riding it made it feels soooo awesome, was smooth as butter. I am really excited for the year ahead, excited to be in good shape again and racing on the dirt. Next race 2 weeks The Peoples Enduro at Beacon. Hopefully the 8 inches of snow we got yesterday melt by then.