Yankee Springs Time Trial

The Yankee Springs Time Trial is my "home court" race. This is the trail where I learned to ride. Every time I ride it, I get a smile on my face, remembering a crash I had, or a crash one of my friends had. During this race there was a small rooty incline that made me smile because I remembered when I couldn't ride it and had to walk it.
I started riding only 5 years ago. After I had been riding for a couple years I was getting more and more determined. I really wanted to win the Elite class race. I was hoping that with all my riding in Florida that this would be the year.
I could see who was signed up the day before, and holy crap, there were 9 women signed up. All of them great riders and a few I've never even come close to beating before. I was trying to not feel defeated before we even started.
My pre ride the day before went great. I hit a few sections hard. I had put a new rear shock on my Stradalli, carbon wheels, and new tires. I really needed to see how the bike was going to handle at high speeds. Anyway, I could feel I was fast and the bike felt like a rocket ship. Seriously, it was weird. It almost felt like I was on a dirt bike flying along. This ride gave me some confidence!

The morning of, I woke up rested and feeling good. I wasn't super nervous. It's a time trial so there was really no strategy to worry about. I just needed to pedal as fast I could and not crash. At the start, two women went off in front of me and two women behind me. (15 second intervals). I passed the two women ahead of me a few minutes into the race. I was on fire and hyper focused looking ahead at the trail. The girl behind me is wicked fast and wins most of the races she enters. I was running scared and desperate to hold her off as long as possible. I thought for sure she'd catch me 15 minutes or so into the race.
There are sections of trail where you can see the switchbacks and see if anyone is coming. I kept looking....no one coming. This fueled me even more. I'm thinking, holy crap, maybe I really can win?!?!? The ride itself was pretty uneventful. My bike was handling like a dream. I took every line perfectly, I gutted out the climbs (I hate climbing), and I made nice clean passes past the Expert guys I was catching. I had one mishap where my shoe hit a stump and my foot got stuck in my rear triangle. I stayed upright and managed to pull it back out. How I didn't bend spokes and crash I'm not sure. What's really odd about this is, I have done the same thing at that same spot before. Only the last time I bent spokes, twisted my ankle, and fell.
I pulled into the finish 99% sure I'd won. I waited at the finish to see if any women were within 15 seconds of me. Two minutes went by and no one...!!!

Thanks Jack Kunnen for the awesome photos!

Winning is always fun but this one meant a lot to me on my home court and the trail where it all began. My friend Scott's company made the awesome medals!  It was a great day of perfect weather and great friends.