Napa Valley Dirt Classic 2016

[Cathy]

Napa Valley Dirt Classic

The Napa Valley Dirt Classic on April 10 was my second cross country race as a team member of Acme Bikes and my second cross country race. We started the morning with some heavy drizzle (rain) but by warm ups and race time the rain decided to give us all a break, as if the weather knew we had a big enough challenge ahead without the added chill and poor visibility rain can bring.

I lined up in the back with my Cat 2 ladies and watched as our team members took the start. Jim and Danny took off for the pros and little by little the rest of the team rolled out to compete in what I quickly learned would be a quite rigorous and challenging 19 miles.

This was my first time at the event and, having never ridden the course, I just decided to always keep pushing. Jim had warned me the climbs were plentiful (my weakness) and to not get complacent as there would always be another hill to crest. Ha! So as I started with my group of cheerful women, I knew I better get out front at the start. Those gals were certainly going to catch me on the climbs so I decided to try to put some distance in at the start. I certainly wasn't the only person with that strategy, as all the women took off at a good clip, but by the time we hit the single track I was solidly in third position.

The leader of our group was quickly gone and I never saw her again. I stayed strong with the second front rider of our group, a woman named Kim, and attempted to pace myself off of her. Trying to hang with Kim in the flats and hills was brutal and I watched her slip farther and farther away as we raced to the first whoops sections. One thing about trying to keep her in my sights is that it made me push myself at every moment. Little by little, I began to reel her in closer. I flew down the first steep and missed the line up that first rocky ascent, so my bad, I had to jump off the bike. I never did that again in those woops and easily made the next two climbs.

I really enjoyed myself in the single track sections. I could've done some real damage to my race time had I held the front position in our little group, but I hung behind riders and tried to just pretend I was on a fun group ride. By this time Kim and I had caught a lot of people and we were jumping off our bikes in sections to run ahead and get around them when they faltered in front of us.

FINALLY, at a steep muddy down to a sharp turn I was able to ride around people as they came off the bike for that turn. I don't know which turn it was, but it was before all of the longer descending. And for a few tiny race seconds, I had space in front of me to ride downhill unencumbered. It was muddy and it wasn't pretty, but it had me grinning from ear to ear! Thank God I had no idea how much climbing was ahead as it might've ruined my moment of joy.

I began to reel in some riders in front of me but just stayed behind, getting thoroughly sprayed in a shower of mud from the guys in front of me. We hit the first of the long climbs out and pretty much it all came to a screeching halt as most of us came off the bikes and did a good bit of pushing and slipping up some of the steeper climbs. I tried to pedal what I could, as I knew it would take less energy than jumping off and on the bike, but it was a real challenge. I'm sure each racer can attest to the cake of mud on our tires, and to the difficulty of clipping into muddy, caked pedals with muddy, caked cleats. I was truly inspired by the grit and determination of each person doing their best to make it through this challenging section. I once again found myself grinning as I hit the fire road. (Although, it may have been a grin of relief as some nice man next to me mentioned we were almost to the finish).

Admittedly, the true test of this whole day came at this point in the race for me. My body did not respond to the mind's push for an all out road sprint. Instead, I just tried to keep the pedals turning, with some extra effort whenever I thought of being caught from behind by the next woman in my class. I was so relieved to see the final little muddy descent and the grass field to the track finish. Woop, I made it! One final push and it was over!

And the best part?  Seeing Jim waiting for me at the end. And hearing about his race effort and his first place Pro finish, as well as seeing my whole team and hearing how each person had so much fun and put up some really great times and top finishes. Congratulations to Jim, Danny and Shiloh for their podium finishes! And to everyone on Team Acme Bikes for their amazing race efforts and super fast times. You guys all rock!

Until next time,

Cathy