Raceday! Today was the final race in the MABRA series and I was hoping to finish off my rookie campaign with a solid performance. Jess and one of my fraternity brothers, David Hilde, made the ride up to Fair Hill to cheer me on. As soon as we got out of the car, it was clear this one was going to be frigid. The temps were in the thirties for the first time all season and the wind was howling. I was thanking myself for having the urge to buy a base layer last night to race in.

I rode around the course a few times and was a bit disappointed. The course really wasn't all that interesting. It was all grass/gravel/ashpalt and with the exception of one nasty up and down dip was just switchback after switchback. This wasn't a course suited to my skill set. The ground was dry during my recon rides, so I figured the course would be super fast. I decided to pump up my tires a bit--this turned out to be the biggest mistake of my season.

I was thrilled to roll my front tire up to the actual start line for the first time ever! Due to my 7th place in the series, I finally got a call up and started next to Lobito and Hostetter III for the start. Unfortunately, that would be the last positive occurrence for the duration of the race. For once I had nothing to blame but myself for my lousy start, and lousy it was.

I got off the line slow and didn't get fully clipped in until after several turns of the crank. My lack of focus on the race at hand and my nervousness with the pedals put me out of the top ten before the first turn. Chris Mayhew, who had started on the second row sprinted around us all to get the holeshot. I was pissed and embarassed that I'd given away my only shot at a good start. To start on the first row and finish out of the top ten when I claim that my fitness is my strength is flat out horrible.

I rode that first lap mad as hell and that allowed me to keep in touch with the front of the race. All the switchbacks kept everything nice and compact. I ended up riding right behind Georgia Gould, who was again racing a Men's B race for training. I figured she'd be heading to the front soon enough and that if I tagged along, I'd get there too. Well, I think Georgia was chilling out in this race and after about half of the first lap I went ahead and passed her and several others, working my way up to as high as 9th.

But the second lap wasn't as kind, and my race started to unravel almost before it'd began. I started to struggle more and more with the switchbacks. But the real problem came with the quick dip section behind the barns. I slipped going up that and fell down, crashing Hostetter along with me. We were both back up quickly and on our way, but my confidence in my handling must have fallen out in the crash. It seemed like every turn for the rest of the course was on ice. The turns had become much more muddy than I'd seen before the race and my hard tires were absolutely killing me.

In one of the gravel turns--admittedly one of the easiest on the whole course, I was braking because I was so timid and one spectator pointed out that I didn't need to brake. I told him passing by that my tires had too much air. I was so frustrated at that point and I'd started to lose a lot of places. The crash had put me out of where I wanted to be and the frustration just continued to mount. I let it get the best of me. Jess and David were cheering me on, but I was mad and continued to ride horribly.

A few laps from the finish, I found myself chasing Steve Fife and Georgia Gould. It was amazing to me that as poor as I'd been riding, they were still within reach. I busted my butt racing up the asphalt hill through the start/finish are to try and catch their wheels. I got close enough that I could hear Steve encouraging me to get up with them, but that was all I could manage. Going through the first set of switchbacks behind the bleachers, I shouted at myself for struggling so much with such an easy passage. All my frustration was mounting and I had nowhere on the course to let it out with my legs. I was stuck.

On the final lap, I glanced back to see where I stood after realizing I wasn't going to catch Steve. I think I was in about 14th place at that point. I saw behind me that two guys were chasing, but that even as slowly as I was riding that I could probably fend them off if I stayed up. Well, I was right, but mainly about the staying up part. I made it through the dip section just fine, but somewhere in the ruts that followed I hit something wrong. I'm not sure why or how, but my face hit the ground hard and my right knee slammed into the bike frame. It hurt like hell and for the second week in a row, I had to think about abandoning the race.

I got up slowly and was able to get back on. My left side was caked in dirt from my toes to my face. My knee hurt everytime I turned the crank and especially if I tried to ride out of the saddle. One of the two guys passed by me easily as I was continuing on slowly. The other was coming up on me and I had to ride without any more crashes to hold him off. Coming into the barriers, I nearly crashed because my left foot wouldn't unclip from the pedals. I stumbled to a stop and regained my balance before slowly crossing the barriers and remounting. By that time the second guy was right behind me. I easily held him off because the switchbacks made passing impossible. I finished a pitiful and very disappointing 16th??

Today I rode like the rookie I am. I let the course manhandle me like I haven't done since Lilypons and Charm City. I rode timid and without skill and didn't have my equipment properly set up. I let crashes ruin my race and failed to ride with determination. Frustration ruled the day rather than my fight to race hard and win places. Today I sucked. This was without a doubt my worst race and made last week feel like a success.

I really appreciate all the time and effort put in by the race organizers. They ran a great event. But I hate that course. It lacked any imagination and required only one dismount for the standard barriers. There was nothing memorable about the layout except for the fact that we were racing around a horse track/stables area. I guess the placing of the barriers just before the finish line is unique, but not very. The course took away any advantage I might otherwise have and instead favored mountain bikes as was seen in the second place finisher's choice steed. Fair Hill is my least favorite venue, but it will be my future test of how much my handling improves. If I can race well there next year, I'll know I've learned something.

I made the connection today between pain and over inflated tires. I'm sore and beat up in a way that rivals only my first 'cross experience at Charm City. The hard tires lead to a jarring and uncontrollable ride. My shoulders, my back, and my knees are hurting. My knee has swollen up quite a bit from smacking the frame in the crash. I am amazed at how much pain I'm in from that quick little spill.

In reading a few of the other bloggers posts, at least I can find some solace in that I was far from the only person to experience a crash on the course. And not the only one who had trouble with all the switchbacks.

Cross courses need run-ups!