Palmer Cross

This week we went with the pink star( as opposed to polka dot) knee socks with matching pink bandanna, yet another reminder to myself that I'm here to have fun and if you can't be fast, you can at least look fashionably coordinated, right? I'm happy to report Palmer now reigns as my favorite course overtaking last weeks' Lowell race. Lowell's on my Sh*t list anyway for screwing up the race results.

Palmer was a last minute ditch effort to make up for missing Sterling. It was so hard to get up and drive back in the direction we had just come from visiting family in NY but we packed up the truck and off we went.

No expectations for myself knowing that I would be racing in the women's "open" at 12:15 for 45 (ouch!) minutes.
I was pleasantly surprised. The wait from getting there at 8am so Paul could race at 9 went by fast. I watched quite a bit of racing, got in a good warm up and the best part that I took notice of were the lines on the course. They were already picked for me! It was a no brainer in the trails or on the open fields to which line I should take having 3 races already over with by the time the women were up. The course was a mix of wooded single track type trails with 3(ugh)run ups and 2 sets of barriers. I wore my heart rate monitor again and noticed I could get my heart rate to 189 at times especially on the last long steep run up where everyone loved to hang out and watch us suffer.. loop after loop...

I mentally prepared myself for getting lapped after looking at the starting line and I did. The first 3 women caught me on the back side of the course near the finish. I reeled in 3 women myself and stuck to the wheel of one woman for one loop and passed her out in open field area. I could tell at every run up it was wearing her down more so then me and I decided I'd lead for a while and thought she would stick to me but she didn't.

Overall I felt way more comfortable with my bike and skills this weekend than I ever have. I was not tentative on any part of the course and I finally felt a sense of confidence instead of worrying about what was coming up next. I am so much better now and it's paying off even if marginally. The other women I see week after week are getting better and stronger too, so it's hard to bridge that gap.