Today the SuperTour Bozeman sprints were held in Lindley Park! We arrived at the start at 7:45 am to start warming up for a race start at 9:00am. The wind was blowing, the temperature was dropping, and the snow was falling… but that didn’t stop us from stripping down to our bright little spandex racing suits to hammer around a twisty, turny mile long race course!
I felt pretty good racing this morning… unlike last week, I felt comfortable on my skis and actually felt like I could ski fast and stay in control of my body… and it felt great! I love the feeling of pushing yourself harder than most people think possible. And the metalic taste of blood in your mouth after you cross the finish line, and the light-headed lack-of-oxygen feeling is priceless.
So after a short cooldown, we headed back to our house (a 10 minute drive down the road) to throw some sweaty clothes in the dryer and to eat a sandwich and relax for an hour before we would go back to the race course for the afternoon heats. (I qualified and would be racing in the 3rd heat which started at 12:10pm).
The gun went off for my heat, and we were off down the course! I felt good, but since it was windy and to move to the semifinals you just need to be the in the top 2 of your heat, I wanted to take it out relaxed and take advantage of a draft. So I didn’t try to make any crazy break-away move, and stayed right in the pack… but the course was narrow and my skis got tangled with someone else’s skis… before I knew it I was on my face and everyone flew by me as I was trying to untangle myself and my equipment. I got up, and didn’t give up! I managed to pass 2 people before the finish line. But that still put me in 4th for my heat, and I didn’t move on to the semifinals.
I am happy with my effort and I felt fast. Though I was hoping for a better result today I’m not dissappointed because I can still say “I did the best I could today”!
