After racing the first Ontario Cup last weekend at Woodnewton, feeling very strong and placing a solid second, I went out yesterday to do some less serious racing and have some fun!
I raced the Mansfield Epic 8 Hour race as a tag team with Grant Stewart. Grant and I have done multiple 8 hours together, and so this one was no different. We took turns doing laps for 8 hours with the goal of winning.
Grant did the starting lap for our team and had an awesome lap, aside from the fact that he crashed, which lost us a little bit of time. He was okay and, with over 7 hours still to go, I wasn't too worried about the time.
I did the second lap for our team and felt strong. I managed to do a 34 minute lap which I was really happy with, leaving us in fifth place. Lap two for me was also around the same time, which meant that I was riding consistently. We managed to work our way up to second place, not far behind first.
We fought hard. Lap three for me started to hurt more and by lap four my legs were exhausted. I was considering asking Grant to do a double lap so I could have time to foam roll and recover a bit more... until he finished his lap and told me he was bonking.
I rode the last lap for the team (we did 14 -- 7 each), thinking about how good a burger would taste right then. Sadly, I was passed by the third place team on my last lap. This left us in third overall, which we were proud of, despite hoping for first.
The highlight of my race happened on my second last lap. I was riding up a long, gradual dirt trail and passing a lot of riders. I rode by two guys, and after I had passed them I heard the one say to the other, "Someday I want to be able to ride like a girl!" It was amazing to hear after having so many people use 'ride like a girl' in a negative context.
Blog Special!
Lydia's Race:
Hey! This is Lydia, Jocelyn's youngest sister. I just joined the Liv team this year and love it! Jocelyn invited me to write about my 8 hour race (I've been going since I was 9) where I raced with three other 11/12 year old girls on a team we named "Bikes Before Boys".
Emma started off our race with a strong and fast lap. After Emma, Nicole was next, followed by Nikka. Our laps were hard but fast, with an average of 45 minutes each. By 5:30 Nikka was on her last lap - and if she got in by 5:45 there was a chance I could do one more lap (I'd have to make it in to the finish by 6:30 for the lap to count). Nikka got in at about 5:40 and I took off! By then I was pretty tired but I still tried to go fast.
As I came down the last hill I heard people yelling that there was one minute left. As I got to the very bottom of the hill I heard all my teammates and family members yelling about only having 30 seconds left. 15 seconds later I had made it to the finish and quickly swiped my card. We came in an awesome fourth place, competing in an open 4 person women's category. We were only 1 lap behind the winning team in our category!
Stay tuned as we head to Quebec for two Canada Cup races.
Happy riding!