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Cranky Monkey 1 & 3

Race report by Tris

The first cranky monkey at Wakefield went quite well. I lined up first for sport women and then by the time the race started found that all of the other women had crowded in front of me. Two of them crashed together at the start right in front of me, but that was really my only problem. I ended up at the top of the gravel hill in 6th (class of 10) and began riding the single track. About half way through the first lap, I saw another woman ahead of me and worked to catch up. Since I am not great at pacing myself, I decided to ride on her wheel for awhile, knowing that if I passed her, I was on the podium.

As we came up on the line to start our second lap, she ran out of gas, and I flew past her. The second lap was completely alone. I just went hard, knowing the course well and felt pretty good. Near the end I was passed by another woman. I don’t know where she came from, but I was upset about it. But I held onto her wheel and she took a stumble and I was able to ride around her and never saw her again. But I spent the last lap sure that she was right behind me, which helped me keep my pace up.

The cranky monkey at Fountainhead was not so good. Mike and I had returned from a 10 day vacation in Tahoe and Yosemite at about 10 PM the night before, so getting up at 7 was pretty difficult. We had done a ton of biking and hiking on vacation, so I was pretty tired and sore as well. But I decided to race anyway, which in hindsight may not have been the best decision.

As I warmed up, I could tell my legs were really tired. But I had already paid the cash, so I might as well go.

I guess the positive thing about this race is I did finish. I seriously wanted to give up a few times, my legs hurt so badly. As I was racing I knew that I was in 6th when I hit the single track, out of 7. The other woman never passed me but about half way through the second lap, a young kid came up behind me and told me he was the sweeper, and the other woman had dropped out. We chatted the rest of the way back, which really helped take my mind of the pain.

I ended up with a 6th place out of 7 starters. Another bad race at Fountainhead to add to my list, which includes my first bonk ever, 4 flat tires in one race and two broken chains in another (the only time I have ever broken a chain).

I am looking forward to Quantico and the SM 100. By then I should be recovered from vacation, and be able to reap the benefits of all that riding (another post sometime.)

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