Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Stumpjump- Spartanburg, SC

Thursday May 15th I was cleared by the doctor. I now am once again healthy. The pneumonia is GONE. My immediate reaction was "does that mean I can race this weekend??". The answer was "yes" so I immediately started packing. Before I go any farther with this little story let me just say that just because the mind is willing does NOT mean that the body is able. 6 weeks of being sick takes a bit of a toll....

There was a lot of racing that happened in a two day time period. 6 girls did 3 different races in two states. We ended up with 8 podium appearances. It doesn't get much better than that!!!

Star and Lisa went to the greater Nashville area for some road racing Saturday (where they took 3rd (Lisa) and 4th (Star) in the category 1/2/3 women's field. They obviously had not had enough racing because they then went and raced on the dirt the next day at Montgomery Bell State Park and took 2nd (Lisa) and 5th (Star). Both ladies had a great time and represented well.

Jamie, Tanya, Emily and I went to SC to Stumpjump; a big AMBC mountain bike event here in the southeast. They were running separate Pro and Expert women's categories (as well as a Junior Expert Women's category) and they paid REALLY well. We were going to have our hand full with the competition.

Emily started us off on the right foot by scoring a win in the Junior Expert Women's race. Jamie, Tanya and I lined up in the Pro race and we were off. OUCH. I knew that the first race back was going to hurt but DAMN THIS HURTS!!!! It is amazing how badly one can suffer while going so slowly. Jamie took the lead with one girl on her wheel and never looked back. Tanya and I were in a chase group of three and we worked together for about a lap. Tanya eventually dropped me but I never lost sight of her. Jamie won, Tanya took third and I was 4th, 15 seconds behind her. Had it been anyone else I might have dug a bit harder at the end but I was very content (and very much blown....) to get beat by Tanya. It was a really great day for the team but a really tough ride for me personally. I am glad the first painful one is over. Hopefully the next race won't hurt quite so bad.

Great weekend ladies...

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