6th Annual Finley Hills Challenge Race Report by Beth Hausam
It was a warm sunny day at Finley Hills with a pretty big wind sweeping in one direction. I was totally pumped to race, especially since finally - some dry and dusty awesome trails to ride on! 6 of us girls lined up at the start and I knew 3 of them, that always makes the race more fun. The start was actually pretty mellow (no bumping elbows for us!), and we each fell into our own little groove up the first steep climb. As usual, Anne was at the front with Josie, Christy, and I tailing behind trying to keep up the good pace. After we were up and over the hike-a-bike section I found that my legs were feeling better that I thought they would. That Seward Park crit from the day before must have woken them up! I took advantage of a few rumors floating around the start of the race -- Christy had a stomach ache and Josie didn't feel in race mode -- so most of my other competitors were out of the picture! I made the move, passed the two and never looked back ... So now I was all about chasing down Anne (I really THOUGHT I could) but soon found her on the side of the trail with her bike upsidedown; the pinch flat got her. "oh Anne, you can fix it and catch back up" I yelled over my shoulder as I pedaled by. But I was leading! This hasn't happened in a long time and it sure felt good! Somehow my virtually nonexistant competitive edge kicked in and I wasn't going to let anything get in the way of a first place. I pushed along; zooming down the singletrack, weaving through the sagebrush, rolling over the rocks, and painfully making it to the top of each climb without thinking twice. This was FUN!! Well, I managed 1.5 more laps until Anne caught me again (wishful thinking) and just couldn't keep at her superpower pace. Still, I wanted to make it to the finish as close to her as I could! After a quick stop at the feed zone to fill up with a little more water, it was back to the grind. A big thanks goes out to all those goatheads for not choosing my tires to attack. :) P.S. thanks guys for the awesome race and cool raffle prizes, I love my new Sobe lizard socks :)
You can check out the results and overall times at the 6th Annual Finley Hills Challenge Results page.
Return to the Finley Hills Challenge Race Reports Page
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