NORBA #2 Firestone!

It was a pretty nice venue but it was super hot out...

Dusty too...

Here's Jason demonstrating the impossibility of keeping dirt out of your grill while on the course...

Brooke had a super solid ride to finish 2nd in her field!

Here's an "action shot" of me tossing a bottle...

The short track split into two main groups, with one rider soloing off the front to win and a bunch of stragglers falling off the back. I couldn't make it to the front group, but even the second group was so fast that by the last lap there were only four of us left.
Everyone had been attacking and counterattacking for the last 3-4 laps but the group of 4 always came back together.
There was one climb, about 1/4 of the way into the mile long course and I attacked at the base, coming around the leader to open a gap by the time I hit the flat straghtaway at the top. I was worried about being out in the wind by myself, but I guess I had opened up enough of a gap that nobody behind wanted to sacrifice their own position to chase me, and they never got organized. I rode really conservative on the loose corners and descent, "spending" my time gap just right so that they couldn't quite catch me before the line and I didn't have to sprint. I was very happy with my 7th place finish!
It was over 100 degrees while we were racing, and so dry and dusty that I could feel the dirt accumulating on the roof of my mouth during the race.
As soon as we finished I made a bee-line for water and shade, and when I worked up enough saliva to spit there was so much dirt in it that it was like thick mud!
The sun and the heat made me a little dizzy and nautious, but I ate and I drank more water than I thought would be possible... It seems like I must've drank several gallons before I finally had to pee.
I also had a ton of electrolytes and a nap, but I was still exhausted when I went to sleep that night.
It definately took something away from me the next day, but I also felt like I had made an amazing recovery and I still raced at 90-something percent and was super happy with how I did in the heat again the next day!

So that's my race report!


The XC was interesting... LOL. They had to change the length of our course right before our start because of concerns with the heat... it was over 100 degrees again.
There was some confusion among the riders over which way to go and about half went the wrong way.
I guess I just don't really care about the results because it got so messed up, I am just happy I got to ride my bike today!