Before we get to the race report, I wanted to first say that today’s race was my first race wearing clipless shoes and pedals! I got them attached last Sunday after the race, and gave them 30 minutes of practice on Thursday evening at CX practice – enough practice for me ;) I wasn’t able to fluidly clip in for every remount, but I was able to manage. The pedals caused 0 wrecks I’m proud to say! Editors Note: I’m not saying I didn’t fall. I did once. The first time I rode the sand trap I took a bad line and fell. This would have happened with or without pedals. I’m glad to say the next 2 laps I rode through without falling!. It was a fun experience and I definitely could tell the pedals helped with powering up some of the hills – I was definitely glad to have them on today. Hopefully with each race they’ll become more natural and I won’t have to think about clipping in and out as much! Now, onto the report……

When we last left our hero, they were seen saying the following: “Unfortunately, at the top, they had us go immediately back to the bottom of the hill, only to turn immediately around and go right back up! Dirty trick! After this was the off-camber section along the levee and the grass straightaway to the finish.”

That quote was a description of the end of the course last week. Well, I retract that statement. That was simple and very kind compared to this week! The villains masterminds organizers of this course chose to have the finish line be at the top of a fairly steep hill – not steep enough to where you had to walk (although I did one lap because I’m weak), but still steep enough to hurt. Not to mention that the hill to the finish line was shortly after another brutal hill before it!

The highlights of the course were the tons and tons of hills. There were at least 4 rough hills, a sandtrap, a set of barriers, a hill you had to run up, and lots and lots of grass. This was the hardest course I have ever done, and I heard people who have been attending Georgia Cross races for years saying the same thing.

The surprise highlight of this course was……snow!!!! No, it did not snow while we were racing. However, when we pulled up, a single flurry landed in my hand! And it had snowed in the mountains earlier as the tops of them were covered in snow. Look at the top of that mountain on the right. Yup, that’s right, SNOW!

No such luck for our course though. Not a drop of snow on the course. Oh well! We came close ;) My race performance was not up to par today. I’m noticing that each race my performance is decreasing (in the rankings at least). There’s a simple reason for this which I will explain later this week (short version: haven’t been training during the week, only racing on weekends. Lack of training tends to have negative impact on race performance). However, the level of fun I am having is exponentially increasing each week, so frankly, I don’t really care how I am ranking right now :)

The combination of stupid cold weather, a ton of hills and a tough course, and an early morning made me feel like I was suffering all throughout the race. A few hours removed now though, and it actually was pretty fun! Don’t know if I’d want to go do it again tomorrow though, but next year, sure!