The Thrill of Victory (at least a small one)

Brookside Cyclocross Cup, Indianapolis, IN
by Lindsay

Sunday I finally got my first win on a bike. Okay, so the field was comprised of me and a lady I raced against all MTB season and never beat. It was a little bit of a homecoming for me as this was pretty much the same field as my very first MTB race about 6 months ago when she put five minutes on me.

Sunday was different, though. The start was a little confusing because I thought the B women and juniors were starting together one minute after the C men. So when the juniors took off, so did I. It turned out that I wasn't supposed to go, but the whole thing was so awkward they just let us go ahead and race. I had slowed by down in the confusion and the other lady got ahead of me, but that was okay, because she would always go out hard at the beginning of MTB races and then I would make up time on her later on. I figured just sit on her wheel for a little while and see what happened, but just seconds after hitting the grass I already felt we were going a little slow. We were just coming into a technical section so I couldn't comfortably pass, but I got around her at the first barrier. That last about 30 seconds until a washed out on a sharp turn slightly thereafter. Me and my bike were fine, just a little dirty, so I jumped back up and got back on her wheel. My husband was nearby and I got a little worried because she yelled something at him and I thought, "Oh my gosh, she can still talk," when there was no way I could have at the time. Then we hit a steep downhill, stair run-up and then a section of pavement where she started hammering and I lost contact because a junior rider and his dad got between us and I had a hard time getting through. I caught up and passed her at the next barrier, which was followed by a long downhill, and a paved uphill that began the second lap. When I came through the lap and started my steady climb, I expected her to hammer by again, but it never happened. I just kept riding steady and never looked back for the next 3/4 of a lap until I came to the top of a hill and saw she was just starting down the one before (about 60-90 seconds back). At that point I was pretty confident in my lead and proceeded to hold my pace for another two laps to take home my first win.

So I only beat one person, at least it was someone I'd never beaten before and got some cool swag for it (Hind windbreaker, Fox hat, and some other assorted goodies). The best part is the huge boost in confidence the motivation to get my butt on the trainer after work so that I can maintain my "undefeated" streak.