The first race for me was the Bar-H bash in St. Joe, TX, which is up north of Dallas almost to the OK line. This was actually the second race of the series, but I didn't make it to the first one due to the 12+ hour drive and the fact that it coincided with our annual attendance at the Houston Supercross. This was also to be Raine's first ever MTB race!! Raine and Claire(new team member) and I departed Houston Sat. morning in the new Subaru. We got there that afternoon and did a preride lap of the course. I tried to help the girls learn some stuff about climbing technical hills and riding drops while we were out. We were camping out that night and unfortunately, the wind blew hard and gusty all night long, flapping the tent incessantly, resulting in me getting pretty much no sleep. My race was at 9AM, so I had to pop out of bed and get in race mode early, ready or not.
During my warm up I could tell this wasn't going to go well, as my heart rate was sky high and any power I normally possess was non-existant. I tried to get off the line slowly and down the long start hill as gingerly as I could to hopefully warm up a little bit before hitting the singletrack and turning uphill and into the wind. But the day was not my day. I hit the singletrack in sixth I think and went all backwards from there. I had zero power and zero energy. I pulled over about 20 minutes into the race and stood on the side of the trail puking for 5 minutes. This dropped me to dead last in my class, back to 26th place. After this I did feel a little bit better and was able to move my way back up to 17th position by the end. This was definitely not the start I was looking for, and felt like my season was ruined. I sulked home and tried to put in some good effort over the next two weeks leading up to the next race at Cameron Park in Waco.
Waco was a little better to me, although I did puke again. I took a slow start off the line again and resolved to stay steady throughout the race and work my way forward. I battled through the first lap with a couple of guys who had smoked me two weeks before, so I knew this was going better. As I came around to start the second lap, that familiar feeling in the pit of my stomach reared its ugly head and I started puking again. I tried to keep moving and puked twice off the side of my bike on the roll, and then finally had to pull over and get rid of the rest of it. This only cost me a minute or two sitting still, but I know it cost me more than that in the big picture. After you puke and there's nothing left in your stomach you're just not the same. It actually feels a little better afterwards, but there's just nothing there to pull from. I rode as hard as I could for the second lap with whatever strength and willpower I had left to a 9th/28 finish.
I now sit 13th in the overall standings for the series, and hopefully with the work I've been doing I can keep posting top-ten results and move myself further up for a decent overall finish. I have my heart and mind set on upgrading to Expert starting in the Fall, so this is my shot to achieve a good overall result in the state championship series. I had set my goal as winning the overall title, but that came crashing down pretty early. I'm just gonna keep my head up and try to do as well as I can the rest of the way. I still have to earn my Expert upgrade with two top-five finishes, which is a good goal in itself.
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