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@sem
so, this weekend, after the first half of 2010 being eclipsed by illness, tiredness and general too-much-to-do--ness, I FINALLY tried my hand at a race at Hog Hill.
Was one of six women, with 30 or so men....
3 of the women were elite, and they dropped me within the first half of the first lap, which was unsurprising, although I didn't know their status before we started so spent most of the time on the bike feeling like a total weakling and wondering when it would all be over!!
I managed to stick with one of the other women into my 2nd lap and from then, I was utterly alone. The hill at the end of the lap completely killed me every time. Given that I climb precisely NO hills most of the time, this is also not that surprising.
Shortly afterwards I was lapped by the mens race, and later, lapped again, with encouraging shouts coming from fellow rolla's Sean and Tom.
After my fourth lap I felt like I was going to have a heart attack so I stopped after the climb. Then the official encouraged me to treat it as a training ride so I took another lap.
Reaching the top of the horrible hill I saw Sean sitting down by his bike and gladly pulled in to join him and watch the rest of the race.
I was so impressed by the strength of the women, and a bit annoyed at myself for laming out, but mainly glad to have finally got around to trying it out.
The women later came over and asked what happened, and offered lots of advice on what to do to get stronger. One of them was a MTB Masters Champ, and they had been racing together for years so I felt marginally less lame for being dropped so fast.
To be honest, the ride out to Redbridge was enough for me in that baking heat, never mind doing 20 laps of the course.
Fun times.