MSC #3 Race Report: Super D

The third Mountain States cup was hosted in Angel Fire, NM over Memorial Day weekend. The long weekend meant that there was time for some major racing to go down. Not only did we have all the hubbub of the Mountain States series (and that's quite a bit), but it was also on the National Series Calender for endurance (that's cross-country weenies like me) and gravity, the National Championships for 4X (also known as Mountain Cross), a World Cup Qualifier for 4X and Downhill! It was huge!

Instead of doing a day-by-day report like I usually do, I'm going to break down this race report by, well, races.

First race on my list was the Super-D. I arrived Friday afternoon expecting to pre-ride the XC course with a couple friends. Yeah, it was snowing. And raining. And this was at the base of the mountain. Two thousand feet above us was the top of the climb... This was a bit of a turnoff for preriding the XC....but it did get me thinking about Super-D. You see, Angel Fire Super-D is supposed to be pretty burly. More of the D than the XC (Translation: Super-D is an all-out race, combination of Cross Country and Downhill, and this Super-D was mostly Downhill). But all bets are off when it gets muddy. That's my speciality. After some waffling, I signed myself up.

The warm-up:
The next morning I dragged myself out of my sleeping bag, put on all my warm clothes, manked a coffee, and hopped on the lift for a quick pre-ride of the course before the race. Thank goodness for the coffee, it kept my hands warm as we climbed past the snow line. At the top of the lift, some chilly fellows handed me my bike, and the craziness began. The top of the course was frozen solid--scary. I pinged through the rock garden at the top cringing as my tiny XC bike was jostled by the frozen ruts. Thankfully the ice turned to mud as I descended--perhaps I would survive the race. I was like a kid in a candy store, giddy from riding mud. Three climbs left me breathless, and finally I was at the bottom, just in time to get on the lift for my race start.

The race:
We stood at the top of the mountain, freezing as the other race categories took off. Just as we got to the line, the clouds broke, and the sun shined down on us for the first time that morning. I took it as a good sign. It was a Le Mans start, meaning that we weren't on our bikes. Instead, we ran up a little hump, pushing our bikes the whole while, then hopping on as we went downhill. The gate timer beeped down, and we were off! I ran well, catching third place out of the start. Cautious in the frozen ground, I dropped back to fourth then regained third within the first two minutes. Then the rock garden: I waffled and dropped back a few spots. Hypoxic, I lost track of my position, and just concentrated on catching whoever was in front of me. I passed someone who was faltering in the technical singletrack, and at the first climb, I gained on the next person, someone in a yellow jersey. The second, I was even closer. I threw myself into the final climb; it was muddy, inefficient, sapping. I couldn't breathe, I thought I might throw up. All skill was gone. The next few minutes I just slammed into anything that could slow me down on the way downhill. There was no oxygen in my body to fuel my brain; This part of the race is largely blank in my memory. I could still see the yellow jersey girl, but couldn't quite catch her. Another person behind me passed. Knowing I was near the bottom, I let it roll. Through the line, I couldn't catch yellow shirt or the girl who just passed me, but I at least kept them close, knowing that I had put up a good fight for my sixth place or so.
But I had one more surprise: I had Fourth, a podium spot! Yellow shirt was second, I had been chasing second the whole time! Pretty good showing for me. The first place girl in our category actually beat the winner of the pro category by a full minute, wow.

And the winner of the Women's Pro? My fellow cross country racer Lynn Bush, congrats! More props to Nicolas Enjalbert for taking the Pro Men's category.