Last night was another great mid-week race at Solitude. This went much better for me (1st place!) than the last time I raced this course (5th place), but I still don't love the descent. It rained really hard yesterday so the course was a little muddy, I even slipped on a root, but didn't go down, luckily. It was cool bordering cold while we raced. I didn't wear arm warmers, but could have used them. When I got in my car after the race it was 53 degrees, no wonder I started to shiver as soon as I finished racing! But it was BEAUTIFUL and definitely smelled like fall. You know that rich smell in the cool mountains in the fall. It was ever present and delicious.

I started off in 1st place and held it the whole race. I could see Erika & Jen at the beginning of the first lap, but worked really hard to drop them on the climb. Jen got close to me at the end of the descent on the 1st lap, I heard someone cheer for her. I thought she was the person riding RIGHT behind me, but didn't want to take the time to turn around and see so I just pushed as hard as I could. Then I pushed harder, I gave it everything I had on that climb because I knew that was my only chance to win. I LOVE pushing my limits like that. Breathing so hard that all you hear is your own breath, seeing how far your body will go. Then on the short flat section on the top I corralled my road biking skills, got into the tucked position (as much as you can on a mtn. bike) and powered like it was a TT. I told myself there was no reason to be so cautious on the descent, just go like the devil is on your tail. It was enough. And, it ended up that Jen wasn't sitting on my wheel, it was some other Revolution rider (male) and I dropped him instead. Fun, fun stuff. I love riding my bike.

I don't have any pictures, it's a casual atmosphere, with very few spectators, hence not many photographers. (If anyone happens to have a photo of me at this race, let me know.)