SCC Series #2- Evergreen

Today's cross race was at Evergreen High school. The morning was really foggy- I was wondering if I'd need a map to navigate the course, since I couldn't see any of it. I arrived about an hour and half before the start and kind of fumbled around till the last minute. Waiting in the port-a-potty line ate up about 20 minutes of my time since they only had two. That doesn't sit well with a bunch of nervous racers! I pre-rode about 3/4 of the course, made some last minutes changes to tire pressure than hauled over to the start line. My last race was women only; this time it was cat 4 women, a few master's men groups and some single speeders. Needless to say there were a lot of people on the course.

As usual, I lined up late and was at the back of the group. And I mean all the way in the back. The gun goes off and we start on a dirt track to some long grassy switchbacks. Then two run-ups, the latter of which was long and had loose dirt. After a bumpy descent we rode over more grass and then had two barriers at the top of a short incline. I liked this course a lot better than Marymoor.

The first lap went OK and I passed a couple girls. On lap #2 I noticed that a lot of people were losing steam and I took the opportunity to move up. Laps 3 and 4 were sweet and I moved up even further.

I came in 9th out of 36. I'm pleased with this finish because I didn't sleep well the night before and wasn't in the game mentally. And it was only my 2nd race ever. Thanks to Eric, Jerry and Stacy for cheering me on, especially at the top of the big run-up! Photos courtesy of Jerry- click here to see a few more.