Norba National #4
Durango, Colorado
August 1-4

Hi everyone,

Another race report. This weekend we were in Durango, CO. With the way the summer has been in Colorado Springs, I thought for sure we were in for a scorcher of a weekend. It was 97 degrees only two weeks ago in Durango. Yikes!

The whole team drove down together in a fifteen-person passenger van that Waldek rented. Scary thought, Waldek driving a large van on two-lane roads. He loves to talk and has a hard time staying in the middle of the lane. I yelled at him a couple of times to pay attention. Somehow we made it.

My husband arrived Thursday evening. Cathy Mattingly also drove in from Moab, UT. Greg, Cathy, and I are working on putting on Adventure Camps this fall in Moab, UT so she came out to meet with both of us.

I rode the course on Thursday, only doing one lap. It is the same course as the world cup last year. It is harder this year because of the drought conditions. The course is torn up, dry, and loose. The descents are quite exciting because you never know where your bike is going to end up. And of course the dreaded Chapman Hill is in the race again. This is a lung buster of a climb right before the finish of each lap. It’s like pouring salt in the wound.

Race day was cloudy and cooler in the morning. It had rained a bit the night before. Nothing substantial but enough to wet the course, at least for the first lap. I got a great start and once again it was myself and Jimena Florit battling it out. She rode strong the first lap and had a 20 second gap on me. I closed it and rode the next two laps with her. It seemed like she was weaker on the climbs than I was so I started attacking her. I would drop her on the climbs, and then she would catch me on the descents. I probably did this five or six times. Unfortunately I wore myself out. She rode steady all day and when it mattered most, she had stronger legs than I did. She rode away from me the last 15 minutes of the race. I crashed on one of the last descents, which opened up a 20 second gap. By that point I was too exhausted to chase her down. I blew up as they say in bike racing. Held on for second. Learned a good lesson that day. After fourteen years of racing, I still learn things each and every race that I do.

The short track was the next day. Fifty minutes before the start, the skies opened up and let loose a downpour. I hadn’t seen it rain that hard all summer. Unfortunately it made the track like a lake. We were in for a wet and muddy race. How ironic in these drought conditions. The course seemed really easy. We raced around the college’s running track and then up on the grass embankment around the edge of the track and then back to the finish line. It was mostly flat and you could see the entire course from anywhere and everywhere. The mud, however, added an unusual twist to the racing.

The race started out fast as always. I stayed up front and after one lap things were starting to string out. I took the lead and around one of the technical muddy corners, slowed down almost to a stop, and then attacked out of the corner. Because of the mud and the change in momentum, my attack threw everyone off and I got away with Sue Haywood. She and I worked together and formed a small gap. A lap later she dropped off the pace and I was alone. I hadn’t planned to get away so early, but when an opportunity presents itself, you kind of have to go with it. So I was out in the wind alone for almost 15 minutes of the race. I had a gap of about 10 seconds. It stayed that way for the rest of the race. I couldn’t get any further away, and the chase group could never get any closer. I won my 4th short track in a row! It was really exciting because I had a lot of family watching the race. And the sun even came out for the race. We were all a muddy mess after it was over. More laundry.

On Sunday morning I was team support again for my husband Greg, who raced in the Expert 35-39 category. He had a fantastic day and came in 2nd. That’s twice now that he’s gotten top three in a national race. The result from Wisconsin back in June when he was 3rd and then today’s race in Durango qualified him for the Master’s World Championship in Bromont, Quebec. I don’t think he is going to go, but it’s pretty cool that he made the team.

Now we have a long six-hour drive back to Colorado Springs. Two weeks at home and then off to Mt. Snow for our last Norba National race. Hard to believe the season is almost over.

Until next time.

Cheers,
Alison