Mt Buller Day 2 and 3 - XCE and XCO

The Eliminator event went as planned.  Except for the spewing up after my Time Trail.  But I rode hard and qualified, then rode out the heat I was in against Kathryn O'Shea, Lindsay Gorrell and Melissa Anset.  I had no interest in even trying hard against these girls, and I really don't enjoy Eliminator events.  

My aim for the Cross Country event was to get on the start line and finish the event.  The morning started as most race mornings of many years have started...I don't want to race...I can't do this...and a new one, I will just pack up and drive home and not race.  So what got me to the start line?  Something my mum gave me when I dropped the dogs off a couple of days ago.  It said: 'Even in darkness, light dawns for the upright.'  So I wrote this on my arm to get me to the start line and through the race.  You have no idea how relevant it was.

Warming up, I was laughing while looking out at the smoke-filled valleys south of Mt Buller.  Yesterday I'd had a phone call from a DSE friend who'd just finished a 24 hour shift as IMT Ops Officer - he needed a friend to talk to where he could offload the past 24 hours of stress, then get a good laugh with me talking about crap that really means nothing.  This put us both in a great mood - me to go and race, him to go and sleep before the next night shift.  So as I was warming up, I was chuckling - the smoke offering a very tangible reminder of the silly laughs from the day before.  What a great way to prepare for a race.  

I got a good start - I think my very first good race start EVER.  I happily announced this to the crowd standing by - I was so proud of myself.  Philippa and I had a good run through the singletrack descent together - Flip flowing beautifully and I was happy to follow.  The climb separated the two of us, with Flip riding away from me.  I struggled with the climbs each lap and enjoyed the descents.  And when I was struggling I would say 'Even in darkness light dawns for the upright'.  This also started to come out while descending - a bit of a dual meaning there, being that I was hoping to stay upright on the bike for the descents, being that so much was at stake if I came off....narrow singletrack with a steep drop on one side that was fast and rocky.  

In the end I finished 1st Women Masters, didn't come off the bike, and only had to walk the final pinch of the big climb on the final lap.  Bike is clean, I'm feeling surprisingly good, and kind of looking forward to tomorrow's 25km enduro.

Series Leaders plate (they gave me the wrong class, but will fix that tomorrow)

Em Parkes (Torq Nutrition) and myself - together again on bikes