FSC #4 Alafia

Hmm, which race should I do? Kid's or Novice?? I watched the pre-ride video on Drew's site and it looked a little crazy, my Mom freaked. She thinks I should stick with the kid's race...she's scared to death I will get hurt. So, my Dad and I signed up for the Endurance Factor clinic. We figured that we would make our decision as to what race to enter after that.

I had an awesome practice with Martin. There were some trails I have never been on before. Like Shelly's Loop and Rabbit Ears. I was able to clear most of course on the first attempt. On the more technical stuff, I cleared on the second attempt, thanks to Martin's advice. The decision has been made, I'm going to sign up for Novice. Can't wait to race!!

Race day: My only goal today is to complete the race, even it means coming in last place. I have to be realistic, take a look at the people I am racing.

Well...the race did not go as smooth as the practice did. I didn't want to burn myself out, so I took my time getting into the woods. Big mistake... now I know the importance of being up front. My Dad and I came across lots of riders who were having a hard time making some of the rooty climbs. With all of the stopping, I started getting frustrated. This brings me to my crash #1, I hurt my knee pretty bad. I hopped back on the bike and finally start to catch back up and then crash #2 happens. I slide out on some dirt going into Bridges. I'm OK, get back on the bike only to have crash #3 on the big drop on Bridges. That one hurt REALLY bad!!! It took me a while to get up. This race course was really beating me up and I could not wait for it to end!! My Dad said that if I wanted to drop out, it would be OK, I said I'm NOT dropping out!!! I barely made it through the rest of the course. I didn't even get to ride down Rabbit Ears because a man was in the way. Finally, made it to the finish line and found out later I came in 18th place out of 24. Wow, that was hard, can't wait for the next race.