Snowbird

The intermountain cup was at Snowbird Saturday and the mountain took it's toll. Mad Dog had a couple of flats that took people out or dropped them significantly. And it was hot. In the past this race has had the motto: Escape the heat at 8000 feet. I have yet to find this to ring true.
At the start line, there were three of us in my category so I figured I had third in the bag. I did not expect to do well because I had been fighting this bug all week. My warm up lap I felt okay, but my throat would burn as my repiration increased and my mouth got dry. As we started I got to the single track first which surprised me. I couldn't really find my rhythm as we wound through the forest. Roxanne passed my on the hill. Normally, I wouldn't mind because I can descend pretty well, but this course was loose and I did not want to take any risks. Today I didn't mind because I was happy doing as well as I was and I was simply filling in a self inflicted need for overall points. I felt pretty strong and could see Roxanne on most of the climbs during the first two laps. By my third lap I started to fade. I just didn't have the energy. I have never DNF'd (shoot a dead guy*) and although I did not want to finish, I could not bring myself to quit. I just told kept thinking just relax and finish...no big deal. And that is what I did finishing about a minute behind Roxanne.

For those who don't know me, "Shoot a dead guy" is an expression we use in place of "knock on wood" because it makes about as much sense...none.