Race season starts again....

Echo Valley 30 miler Chelan, WA Well I have had quite a few weekends of racing off. It is a good break, not that I needed one but good just the same. This weekend was the Echo Valley 30/60. My husband was coming to support me with the kids so I decided to just tackle the 30 miler so as not to take up half the day. I needed to get some racing in is so despite the fact that I don't love the course here as it is mostly fire road, it does have a lot of climbing. We drove over Friday night like the pre-kid days pitched a tent and stayed right there in the parking lot with about 30 other campers. The kids had a blast camping, I prefer a nice bed before a race but it actually worked out pretty good. I had looked at the weather report prior to coming and Chelan is often quite warmer than Spokane. I have been use to riding in Mid 60s and it is was suppose to be upper 80s. I knew the race would be all about hydration for me. So I decided to ride with the camel back as it is easy access water. It was time to get ready to race. I warmed up a little bit and headed to the start line. There were 25 women lined up (Only 2 catagories open women and open women 40+). It was a little weird because I didn't recognize anyone. Usually I can pick out a few women. The race started and it goes straight into a 3 mile dirt road climb. I felt good and I rode pretty hard that first bit, by the top of the climb there wasn't anyone in sight. I was honestly surprised, I had such a gap in 3+ miles. My legs felt a little loaded, but they always do for the first 30 min of a race and then the are ready to rip. The course was so dry and loose, as my husband would say a little like roller derby. He had pre rode the course and warned me to be careful is some of the high speed corners. The course is on a 15 miles loop that both the 30 milers and 60 milers use. It didn't take long and I was catching the end of the 30 miler mens group that had left 10 min ahead of us and then the 60 milers. The entire first part of the loop is double track which can get boring, but was great for passing. I rode hard, but not over the top. It was hot and I was making sure to race smart and stay hydrated. I tried my best to stay in race mode and keep trying to pick of men, but it was a little hard when there wasn't anyone immediately around to race. I finally came around to the only single track section of the course. There is a little climb prior to it and I passed a guy right as it crested and he asks me "Can you descend?". I kind of giggled it motivated me to rip it, when the descent ended he was no where in sight. Guessing he figured out rather quickly that I can descend. Unfortunately we only get to do the single track part once. My husband was awesome and drove up to the loop with the kids and they were out cheering for me. It is a really confusing loop, you come back to one point 3 or 4 times. I think it was an inner and outer loop, then another loop somewhere else, which then equals one entire 15 mile loop. I get lost just trying to write about it. The second lap was mentally hard for me, I was feeling really good but lacking motivation to put it all out there. On the last hill prior to descending for the finish I decided to see how many more racers I could pass. This was an interesting goal because I couldn't see anyone ahead, but it kept me pushing. After finishing the second lap you get to take a 4 miles single/double track to the finish. It was pretty nutty, it was super loose with rocks and a ton of water bars. I was thankful for the Ripley I am pretty sure it saved me a few times. I came through the finish in first and my family was right there. My husband was smiling at me, he was laughing because I was so covered in dust you could hardly tell it was me. It was a good race, the Ripley rode great, my new VP VX trail pedals are awesome, and the VK jersey was so light and nice. Thank you!!!! Sunday I was able to ride with Kris, who usually hates riding with me after a race or hard workout. (We can all be a little tired and slow the next day.) I was hoping I wasn't too tired from the race yesterday, because I wanted to prove him wrong. I hoped on the Mojo today and felt awesome, which tells me I didn't race hard enough yesterday. It turned out to be just fine because Kris tried to kill me today. Great training for Fernie 3 day in 1 month, hardest part will be deciding which bike to ride... Ripley 29er or Mojo SLR... Hmmmm. Good thing I have a month to decide. Ripping around in Deep Creek