Women’s 3/4
Course Highlights: The one and only “Amphitheater of Pain” and long “beach” run
Race Stats: 30 starters (5 HZ/PBRers! Me, Bianca, Victoria, Sara S, and Caitlin)
Weather: 12 hour Indian Summer weather - just excited it was not rainy and muddy for once this season.
The Low Down: All week I was looking forward to the forecast of 72 degrees and sunny – a rare change of pace from the muddy, cold, rainy, overall misery of this season. However, when the alarms went off and rain was pouring, I was not happy. That may be an understatement, I was pretty angry – I just really like being dry and warm. Luckily, the 60 mile drive to Beacon proved the rain was only over Philadelphia. The race was cloudy, 70 degrees, and dry.
We were staged by order of race entry which worked to my advantage giving me a second row starting position. From the starting whistle, the race pace was fast. The start was a gradual uphill climb on road before ducking right into the woods – giving any road rider a decent advantage from the start. Luckily, I felt good from the go and managed to be towards the front when we went into the woods. The course wound through wide, flat, single track then riders shot down to the “beach.” I managed to ride the first 10 yards before having to dismount and run the remaining 15 yards. After more winding through the woods, we entered the “Amphitheater of Pain.” I heard dreaded stories of this infamous amphitheater. Let’s just say it lives up to it’s reputation. Trying to lift my legs up over the 2-2.5 foot steps was pretty painful. Luckily we only had to run up the giant stairs 4 times (maybe only 3, I try to block out those memories). After the first lap, the field was separated. Three women were off the front and I was in a chase group of 4. We were unsuccessful at catching the front pack but we had our own throw down for the next spots.
Yes, the racing was fun, but I always love watching our elite women battle it our in the A race. Kristine, Nikki, Kristin, and Andrea tore it up once again giving us something to train for…Great job to everyone out there racing and peddling fast…
Summary: Nice weather + great course + lots of HZ/PBRers out there = another great race day.
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