Last Saturday Team Bicycle Therapy / Melitta sent a six-pack (Linda, Angie, Nathalie, Mikey, Jack, Brendan) to the Iron Hill Challenge and came home with a little bit of mud, a lot of podiums, and even more grins. Here, Linda Mattioni looks back from the Pro/Cat 1 podium.
On the way down to the Iron Hill race this past Sunday, I wasn't too thrilled about the idea of racing in the slick condition that the course was probably in. Then there was the condition of MYSELF that I wasn't too thrilled about either. Does anyone ever feel ready for their first race of the season??
If I had time to fill my head with those thoughts, then of course I was totally oblivious to the fact that I'd be racing with (make that waaaaay behind) a MTB legend. It didn't take long for me to figure out. As I jumped out of the car to run up to registration, the first friend I ran into let me know: "DO YOU REALIZE YOU'RE RACING WITH SUE HAYWOOD???!!!??!". Not that I had a chance to even keep her in sight after the first 10 seconds of the start but I somehow managed to beat out a few other ladies for the chance to stand at the bottom of the same podium as her. I can't forget to mention Cassie Smith and Kathleen Harding though; both extremely talented riders!! I felt a tad unworthy of even my ground position on the podium with those ladies. It was very inspiring and showed me I have a lot of room left to grow.
So, there was the talented company, and then the memories of the un-talented rider I used to be. I can't remember the year it was when I last raced Iron Hill but I kept on getting flash backs of my former mountain bike self during the race; me in my logo-free get-up of a cotton tank top and well worn chamois with no idea what Hammer Gel was. I rolled through sections where I would remember the anger and fear and all the other awesome emotions that come along with being a not-so-awesome mountain bike racer. I would snap out of it just in time to realize I had cleaned the section like I had been riding it every day since the last time I raced there. Between those memories and the stacked podium I ended up on, it was a pretty awakening day.
I've come pretty far from the days when I thought mountain biking was just a fun way to get dirty (you only ride trails after a heavy rain and it's really muddy right?) to now holding a CAT 1 MTB license. I have no desire to train my butt off to be the very best and be #1 all of the time, I just get a bigger smile on my face the faster I can go :)
Here's to bigger smiles!
Oh, and the course was fun as heck!
On the way down to the Iron Hill race this past Sunday, I wasn't too thrilled about the idea of racing in the slick condition that the course was probably in. Then there was the condition of MYSELF that I wasn't too thrilled about either. Does anyone ever feel ready for their first race of the season??
If I had time to fill my head with those thoughts, then of course I was totally oblivious to the fact that I'd be racing with (make that waaaaay behind) a MTB legend. It didn't take long for me to figure out. As I jumped out of the car to run up to registration, the first friend I ran into let me know: "DO YOU REALIZE YOU'RE RACING WITH SUE HAYWOOD???!!!??!". Not that I had a chance to even keep her in sight after the first 10 seconds of the start but I somehow managed to beat out a few other ladies for the chance to stand at the bottom of the same podium as her. I can't forget to mention Cassie Smith and Kathleen Harding though; both extremely talented riders!! I felt a tad unworthy of even my ground position on the podium with those ladies. It was very inspiring and showed me I have a lot of room left to grow.
So, there was the talented company, and then the memories of the un-talented rider I used to be. I can't remember the year it was when I last raced Iron Hill but I kept on getting flash backs of my former mountain bike self during the race; me in my logo-free get-up of a cotton tank top and well worn chamois with no idea what Hammer Gel was. I rolled through sections where I would remember the anger and fear and all the other awesome emotions that come along with being a not-so-awesome mountain bike racer. I would snap out of it just in time to realize I had cleaned the section like I had been riding it every day since the last time I raced there. Between those memories and the stacked podium I ended up on, it was a pretty awakening day.
I've come pretty far from the days when I thought mountain biking was just a fun way to get dirty (you only ride trails after a heavy rain and it's really muddy right?) to now holding a CAT 1 MTB license. I have no desire to train my butt off to be the very best and be #1 all of the time, I just get a bigger smile on my face the faster I can go :)
Here's to bigger smiles!
Oh, and the course was fun as heck!
