Rock the Canyons, being race 13-the last one of the series, was a race filled with anticipation and anxiety for me. I got an email at 5:45 AM saying that part of the course had been cut out. It was the Leadville style climb (out & back) that I was going to use to put time on my competition. Taking that out made the course just over 12 miles, not much time to sort things out. The other thing that had me worried is they started us behind the Sport men, normally we get to start in front of them. I knew there would be plenty of stragglers that we'd have to pass. They were friendly and accommodated our passing for the most part. I guess KC had an issue, here's her letter. I assumed there would be a really big turn out for the Pro women field, but just 3 of us showed up. So once I realized there was a small turnout my anxiousness melted away and I was ready to have fun.
On the first lap KC & I went back and forth a few times then she caught me on the descent. On the second lap I was catching back up when my chain fell off into my spokes on my rear wheel and I was unable to pull it out. Luckily another racer gave up his 4th place position (he ended up 5th) to help me get my chain out. (Do we see a trend here? This is the THIRD race that I've had a chain issue and luckily each time some other kind racer bails me out. After the first time I have become a freak about cleaning & lubing my drive train-but now I know that's not it. I see a new drive train in my future). Stopping for those few minutes didn't give me enough time to put distance on Erika and she caught me at the very end of the descent. She mentioned that she felt really good, had a great race. That landed me in 3rd by 3 seconds. (This post has a lot of 3s in's it.) It was still a fun race, but the course is not on my top 5 or even top 10 list.
Erica, KC, Erika