Official results are up, my real time was 1:29:54, that makes more sense, I swore I'd maintained 30 minutes laps...

Race season finally showed up! When I did my last race in November I didn't know if I could wait all the way until March to race. Then, suddenly, it was March 5th and I was rolling up to the Red Rock Rampage course in St. George, Utah. I was so excited to put my sweet new bike and White Pine Touring kit to the test. They both treated me right (the shorts are so comfortable and my bike is rocking my world-thanks White Pine!).

I arrived in time to pre-ride the course since it's been a year since I'd seen the entire course. That left time to go talk to everyone and then fit in a short warm-up and a very last minute derailleur adjustment by Ryan, the team mechanic for Revolution. He was so nice about it even though I'm not on his team.

There was a good showing of pro women, seven of us lined up. My plan was to get on Lynda's wheel, but she ended up on mine for the first climb. I didn't want to slow her down so I pushed super hard then she came around on the first descent and I never saw her again. Sarah and I were back and forth the rest of the race, on the last descent she passed me and I ended up in third. I put 3 scoops of CR333 in a 24 oz. water bottle and that was all I used and needed for the race.

It was one year ago that I did my first official mountain bike race. I showed up to Red Rock Rampage having no idea what I was doing and what I was in for. I raced in the sport category and won by 8 minutes (time of 1:09:31). At that point I knew I was hooked and the rest is history (chronicled on this blog). My lap times were almost 5 minutes faster this year. This year I maintained 30 minute laps with a total time of 1:29:54. Last year, I literally didn't know or recognize a single person at the race. Now I have countless friends and supporters. I'm also 20 pounds lighter. I won't get mushy, reminiscing about each race like this. This is just a hallmark of a race for me. I love mountain bike racing, it's the best thing that's happened to me (besides my super supportive husband and son).

Check out MTBRaceNews for a full race report. They continue to run a stellar website.

My skills coach, Gene Hamilton, who runs BetterRide also did a shout out.