Chickasaw

Last weekend was my first mountain bike race as an expert. Reid had warned me how hard it is to transition from Sport to Expert, but it was tougher than I thought.

On Saturday I met Mark and Kym in Chattanooga, and we carpooled to Columbia. It is always entertaining with Mark and Kym. The weather was perfect, high 60s and sunny and trails were in amazing shape. We met Amanda, Anina, and Kelsey, and went for a fun pre-ride.

That night we went to Shannon's house in Murfreesburo, it is an awesome house. One of our big sponsors bought us dinner and Mark spent five hours cleaning our bikes. It was a fun night.

It poured Saturday night and we woke up to a muddy course. I was not happy, however, Anina pointed out that the only way I will get better at riding is in the mud is to ride in the mud.

The start was through a field and I did pretty good making it through the start. I did okay once we hit the trail, but I started to get passed. Then we hit the mud, and that was it for me. I was just trying to finish. Chickasaw is a fun course, but it is really hard in the mud. I finally finished and was really happy.

Chickasaw is about 5-6 hours from Athens so I had to hitch a ride back with Star and Amy so I could get home before midnight. I left my muddy bike with Mark and Kym, and Mark cleaned my bike again. It was super nice of him. My ride home with Star and Amy was entertaining too. Star at a chili dog and had the worst burps, I couldn't figure out what was smelling like garlic for half the ride. I thought it was me.

Next weekend is Tsali and I think most of our team is going. I am looking forward to the weekend, our team is a blast. Tsali is a big race too and the weather is supposed to be nice. It is going to be tough.