2012 Epic Family Race-cation (Part 1)

I can't believe it's been almost a month ago that we were getting ready to leave for our Epic family vacation. So much has happened and I'm going to try to catch up on things a little bit at a time.

We left home at 6:30 the first morning and drove all the way out to Wichita Falls, Texas that day. It was a 19-hour drive, but thanks to the wonders of technology, (my computer & my parents' iPad), it wasn't too bad. I had only been back from mountain bike camp a few days, but hadn't ridden since the last race in Georgia, so my dad and I got up early the next morning and went for a quick ride on a trail that was right in the middle of town. It was ok, but we found out later that we missed the really fun part of the trail. Bummer.

The next day, we drove the rest of the way out of Texas, through a bit of New Mexico, and into Colorado, where we would spend the night in Gunnison before going to Crested Butte to race in the Wildflower Rush that weekend.

This was my first time racing at altitude and doing a ski resort course. I went on a pre-ride with my dad the day before the race. The course itself wasn't super tough, except for a 20% grade climb at the very beginning. The downhill though, was pretty fun. After the pre-ride, I felt pretty good about the race and how I could perform.

This picture doesn't show just how steep this climb was.

In fact, I thought I had a good shot at winning. Unlike in Florida, the kids racing in Colorado didn't seem to take off from the line as quickly, so I sort of sat back and watched for a few seconds. Then I decided to attack and got a pretty big lead turning the corner into the first climb. Then it hit me......altitude. All of a sudden, my chest started hurting, my legs cramped up, and I had to get off the bike just before getting to the top of that steepest part. I watched as several kids passed me and there was nothing I could do about it. It was humiliating.

I finished the race mid-pack, crossing the line in 10th and collapsing on the ground afterward. Not fun. Unfortunately for me, my dad was able to make a video of the race. This is definitely one of my least favorites.



One good thing that happened was that I met 2 boys who race as much as I do, Jake and Nye Yackle. We've been following them on Facebook and they've been following us, so it was cool to finally meet them in person, especially since they live in Colorado and we live in Florida.

Jake, me, and Nye

Look for part 2 coming soon.....