HUGE sigh! I am finally on the plane back to Durango. I am totally exhausted but I am happy! That was the greatest fight of my bike racing career. My goal since last year was to win the World Championships. I started that race not wanting to leave anything out on the track. For me, that included riding the knarly rock section so there would be no question in my mind that I did everything I could to ride as fast as possible.
Myles was a huge help in my line choice. I had a crash on that section practicing the day before the race. I am what you would call “fiery” so I threw quite a temper tantrum. He calmed me down and helped me see a better way to ride. He also walked up to check out the section the morning of the race and came back to let me know it was good to go. I trusted him, and went to the start line with no fear. No fear AT ALL. This already was a victory for me, because this year I have been scared alot. I am a great technical rider, but somehow I had been doubting myself all year. I found myself in alot of lose-lose situations becuase I was too scared to ride a section, and also too hard on myself to ride a B line without beating myself up about it. It is impossible to ride “in the zone” when you are constantly fast forwarding to the “dreaded” section up ahead!
Knight in shining armor
Fear conquered, I led out the start lap and hit the first big climb. A couple girls sneaked in front on the singletrack and I got balled up on the first descent. I crashed into a swiss rider running down the A line and hit the rocks hard. Once I hit the climb I made some passes pretty quick, and was in 3rd behind Catharine before I knew it. The pressure was always on with Maja not far in front and Irina not far behind. I pulled away from Catharine on lap 4 and headed in to the final lap :38 seconds from first with a :15 second gap on 3rd and 4th. I could see Maja up the climb and put my head down to chase. Heading into the rock section my tire slipped and I crashed into the fencing. There goes my :15 seconds. It felt like I was stuck for 5 minutes. When I finally got up Catharine was right behind me with Irina on her wheel. I could not get into my pedal and had to take the B line so I could find a chance to clip in. All 3 of us hit the bottom of the switchback climb together, and just like that I slipped from 2nd to 4th.
I was heartbroken, but only for a second. My Dad was running up the hill on the left and Myles was to my right. He yelled “do NOT give up on a medal!” I looked into his eyes and I swear, I absorbed some of the “red mist” he always saw before his downhill runs. I charged up the climb after them and follwed them into the last piece of singletrack. One more time through the feed zone, a few grass turns and then it was the finish line. I did not think about danger or strategy, in fact, I didn’t think at all. I just stood up and hammered. I passed Catharine on the left before the fly-over bridge and just kept sprinting. I won the bronze! After all that drama in the last 10 minutes, that felt like gold to me.
It was so great to see Myles and my Mom and Dad from the podium! Thank you all so much for believing and supporting me! I really can feel your energy and I really do use it! The 2010 race season has come to a close and now I need to seriously decompress. However, I am already thinking about how great it is going to feel to ride the gap jumps in Champery! 2011 will be sweet. 11 is my favorite number and right now I am sitting in seat 11 A!
Mom and Dad
