BUMP and Grind

I'm tired. Extremely tired. I need a break. But wow, the last two weeks were worth it.

After Texas I had less than a week to get ready BUMP and Grind in Birmingham, AL. It is arguably the biggest race we have in the southeast and the fields are always big and strong. In the past few years it has been coupled with an Xterra race the following weekend so there are world class athletes from multiple areas of the sport in the mix. This year would prove to be more of the same. Our start list on Sunday included Shonny Vanladingham, Luna  Team rider and former national mountain bike champion, and Melanie McQuade, multiple time Xterra world champion. These ladies were going to be tough. Anina and I had our work cut out for us. The other categories also had big fields and everyone was going to have to be on their "A game" this weekend.

I went into the weekend feeling wrecked. The racing and travel to Texas was still lingering and a busy week of work had not allowed me to recover. It was going to be tough. We did a short pre-ride and I had a great time hanging with the team Saturday night. The Emily quote of the weekend was: "I tell my left from my right because the left hand is the one that doesn't work as good."  I love that girl!!! We all spent a lot of time laughing and it was a good, relaxing pre-race evening.

Sunday was an early start. Mark and I headed over early to get the team tent set up. We had a key location right on the course near the start finish. It rained Saturday evening so my warm-up was spent doing some recon on the course to see how it held up. The trail was a little slick but good, my legs were not so good. Ugh.

We lined up and I was as ready as I was going to be. They said go and I immediately knew that it was going to be a struggle. I managed to hit a cone that was covering an obstacle in the first section of sidewalk at the start. Rookie. Who does that!!?? Me. I chased back on and then had a horrible time getting into the woods. I got behind a rider who kept sliding out on the roots and the top three riders were gaping me. Damn. Anina was one of the three and I was psyched to see how strong she was riding today. At least someone from our team would have a good showing. I got around the slower rider and began my chase. I could see Shonny, Melanie and Anina about 10 seconds ahead of me but I could NOT get there. Stay steady Kym, it's a long race. We hit the fire road climb and I was still catching glimpses of the race in front of me. My body was screaming... it did not want to ride. This was the worst I have felt during a race in a long time. I continued to push and hoped for the best. After the climb and the long fire road I knew that Shonny was long gone but I was focused on trying to catch Anina and Melanie. My body was finally starting to cooperate a little. I still didn't feel great but I was feeling good enough to push a little bit faster. Shortly after that I passed Anina on the side of the trail with a flat. OH NO!!! I continued to push and suddenly I saw Melanie ahead of me. I was catching her. I passed her and realized that I was now in second place. Okay, I was having a crap day on the bike and still somehow managing to ride myself into second place at BUMP. I guess my fitness was going to carry me through even when my body didn't want to go. I pushed hard and suffered badly for the next hour and rolled in for second place. I was extremely happy with where I finished and that I suffered through but I am very disappointed in how I rode. I know that I am way stronger than what I did today. It is now time for some much needed recovery. I don't want to repeat this again.

Anina is one tough chick. She fixed her flat, flatted again fixed it again and eventually rolled in for 6th place. I hate that she had such bad luck today. In all honesty, I don't think I would have caught her. She was on fire. Unfortunately, sometimes that is racing. Some days it's your turn, some days it is someone else's. I am extremely proud that she didn't quit and that she's my teammate.

Kelsey came home with the only win for the team this weekend. She finished all smiles and didn't crash or end up in the hospital. This is a HUGE improvement. We are glad your hand has healed. We've missed you!!

Emily took second in the Junior Expert Women's category. Great ride today girl, you looked good.

Amanda, Catherine and Shannon all lined up in  the Expert Women's field against some tough ladies. There was a mix up at the finish line as the ladies were supposed to head out for lap two and Amanda and a few others were told to stop when they were supposed to keep going. The mix up was eventually realized but Amanda lost a spot in the process to finish 3rd. Catherine took a wrong turn (we won't point out that is the second time this year...) and her and Shannon both finished mid field, 8th and 10th. It was good to have Shannon back out racing. She's working on her PhD and has been studying like a mad woman and not getting to ride as much as she'd like. We've missed you Shannon!!!

All in all it was a fabulous weekend. 5 podium spots and great times with the team. After some reflection I am still not happy with my performance but I am happy that I have good enough fitness to ride fairly strong even on the bad days. I am glad that I went to Texas, even though it meant a not so stellar ride in Birmingham. In the big picture, Texas will help get me to my goal and although this weekend was not ideal, it still turned out okay in the end.

Now I need a nap.

Thanks for reading...