Foray into MTB XC Racing.

Today I had my first Mountain bike race, it was a cross country style race (as opposed to Downhill) which is a fancy way of saying, it was single track, w/o anything too insane. It was fun, but I am, very, very, very unfit. When nutritionists recommend carbo-loading, I don't think they meant to stay up way too late, drinking a few too many beers. Not the best pre-race activity....which was proven beyond a shadow of a doubt this morning.

I signed up for 'Novice' class, race, I'm pretty sure I finished dead least...mainly because after all of the uphill climbs, I felt like my lungs were going to come through my mouth, so then I would ride easy for awhile...until my heart no longer wanted to jump out of my chest.

I didn't know the track when I got there, so after I signed up, I went for a "practice" lap, to figure out the trail, well I was tired after my practice lap so I knew it was going to be a long day...On the bright side, when I signed the race staff, said the novice race would only be 3 laps, I am training for a team 8 hour race in 2 weeks, so I was wasn't too upset by the practice lap, a little warm up, then 3 laps, would make for a good work-out.

About 15 minutes I after I got back from my warm-up lap, they announced they were going to do an orientation lap, b/c they had changed the novice route. So I went out on the orientation lap as well, which was a good thing, b/c I would have gone the wrong way for sure (my practice lap was only about 70% of actual lap). So after my practice lap and then my orientation lap, I was thinking this was going to be a long day.

So about 10 minutes after the orientation lap was finished, they moved us to the starting line. As they were starting the race, they mentioned that they had decided to make it 4 lap race since they changed (shorted) the track from the original plan, so now I had 4 more laps to go. (urgghhh)

It is painful being out-of-shape, b/c my mind was willing to push it, but my body could not take it, it was a little frustrating, watching the pack pull away. I tried to keep up for like the first 6 or 7 minutes, but then I was starting to fatigue a little so I slowed down a bit. But going out of gate too fast really took its toll (not to mention that my warm-up lap, actually fatigued me...) I was thinking of dropping out after the second lap, b/c I was really freaking tired, it was very warm, becoming hot....I guess my obstinate, competitive streak kicked in, as I don't think I would have been happy with myself to make the effort to get out of bed at 6:30 am on a Sunday, hit the road by 7, drive 90 minutes, only to quit halfway through a race.

Anyway I managed to finish the race, I think I did pretty well all things considered. On the last lap, I rode the whole lap w/o getting off my bike (on the previous laps, I either walked one downhill that was little sketchy, or would stuck on a steep section and have to put foot down.

The race was definitely a good training session for the 8-hour team race in 2 weeks, and it also highlighted how "weak" my cardio training was this week.