Charisa Wernick: Weekend MTB and CX Racing

I had only planned to do one small race this weekend. Somehow it turned into an awesome big weekend of outdoor activity.

Saturday's Trail Run

I spent over an hour riding my CX bike around this lake while Dave was busy with his 12 hour mountain bike race. Perfect fall weather and warm sunshine made for an awesome afternoon. I returned to the campsite for some quality sit-in-a-chair time and was asked if I wanted to do a circuit of the mountain bike race for Dave's team. Keep in mind, I don't own a mountain bike. But it looked fun and my segment would take place at sunset with potential for part of the ride in the dark, which sounded like a great adventure.

Our team rider came in and off I went on the borrowed mountain bike. I hammered the flats (because I can actually pass people when it isn't uber technical), tried to bomb some of the fun swoopy sections, walked the steep rocky part and only launched myself into the shrubbery four times, the final of which left me still clipped in and stuck on my side like a crab that couldn't move. The dark section was amazing and felt as if I was riding at 50mph.

Creepy tarantula from my CX ride!

Sunday was time for the CX race and my legs were feeling less than awesome. Thankfully it was only 45 minutes of pegging my heartrate (either from going so hard or from being terrified I would kill myself.) I was determined this year to try to finish ahead of more than at least one person. (I didn't have children to race with this year though, so it would be harder!)

Pre-race

I was too chicken to actually ride through the mud pit, but it was fun running through the deep mud.

Each loop I ran through the mud I passed a girl who stayed up on the bank to keep from getting dirty. I loved this. I didn't pass her because I was more skilled - only because I was willing to run through sloppy mud. Then of course she would repass me when it got technical again...