Norba National #5
Mt. Snow, VT
August 1-4

Hi everyone,

I'm on my way home from our last Norba National in Mt. Snow, VT. Two hours to kill here in the Washington Dulles airport. The past week has been an emotional rollar coaster and I feel lucky that I was able to race at Mt. Snow after everything that happened.

Most of you know, some don't; I crashed a week ago while riding my mtn bike on a dirt bike path and broke my wrist. Crummy luck. I came around a blind downhill turn and in attempting to avoid hitting the dog and person that were in my way, I crashed hard on my left side.

Everything is healing quickly. Riding, much less racing a mtn bike with a broken wrist is less than ideal. I had the orthopedic doctor mold my cast around my handlebars. He told me that racing/riding my bike wouldn't make my injury any worse. It was just a matter of how much pain I could tolerate.

I spent the week hoping and praying that I would have the world's fastest healing bones. I have been taking lots of calcium, antibiotics for the deep road rash on my knee and hip, acidophilus to counteract the antibiotics, and over 1200mg of ibuprofen a day. I was able to get on my bike on my trainer in the basement by Sunday. I have never been so excited to ride an hour on my trainer as I was that day. Monday I rode outside for the first time. It was painful and probably not the safest thing to do. I wanted to know what my chances were of racing in four days and after that ride I wasn't too optimistic. I couldn't do anything but hold on to the bars on smooth pavement, quite different than the conditions in a mtn bike race.

I flew to Mt. Snow on Wednesday afternoon. The plan was to ride or try and ride the course on Thursday and then make a decision. I was so worked up Wednesday that I called my husband in tears. I was scared to death to find out what my wrist was going to be like on the mtn bike. I was so afraid of having to make the decision not to race. After some wonderful words of encouragement from Greg, I fell asleep.

Thursday ended up going really well. I rode an entire lap of the course. What a relief. The pain was tolerable on the downhills, if I kept my speed down. Climbing wasn't too bad, except I couldn't pull up on the bars. Some of the technical sections I had to run; no big deal. Overall, I knew that I could deal with the pain, and I was able to hold onto the handlebars all the way down the descent. I was ready to race.

The course at Mt. Snow can be one of the most treacherous and challenging; if it raining and muddy. This year, however, like most of the country, Mt. Snow was bone dry. The course was in the best shape I've ever seen. Super lucky for me. I don't know how I would have handled a slippery muddy course. All I had to do today was finish in the top forty and I would have enough points to win the National Championship. To win the overall Norba title I had to beat Jimena Florit, which was going to be impossible with my wrist; unless of course she double flatted or ripped her derailler off. Anything can happen I suppose.

The start of the race was harder than normal because I couldn't stand up and sprint away from the line. As a result I got crowded in and didn't have good position into the first turn. My legs were in shock and didn't feel good at all. It didn't help that I took five days off the bike because of the injury.

I held my own in the first climb and then rode cautiously down the descent. End of the first lap I was back in 14th. Different feeling being so far back in a race. I felt better as the race wore on, and even got braver on the descents. Despite the pain I was having fun. And the crowd was loving it. I definitely got the biggest cheers of the day.

I passed a lot of riders and ended up 7th. Amazing! It was one of the hardest fought races I've ever done, and I wasn't even competing against anyone. It was just me and my body and how long would I hold up. At the end of the day I had won the national cross country title and was second in the overall Norba standings. And only seven days ago I couldn't even hold a pencil in my left hand I was in so much pain.

The next day was the short track race. Knowing that holding onto the handlebars wasn't going to be an issue, I was focusing on how to win the race. I knew it would be hard because the course is short and not very hilly. And I didn't have the zippiest legs either. The race went well though. I fought hard. The wrist was quite painful but in such a fast race I didn't have time to even think about it. In the end I didn't have enough in the legs to win. Chrissy Redden from Canada got away. I tried to bridge up to her. Got as close as 6 seconds but no better. Legs were tired and my poor heart was maxed out. I finished second in the race, but won the overall Norba title and the National Championship title. It's funny, but I was disappointed at the finish. Despite everything that happened, I still expected to win. (I think I'm too hard on myself. Ha!)

Anyways, the wrist survived, and even feels better now than it did on Wednesday. We cut the cast off as soon as I got back to the truck. The inside of it was soaking wet from all the humidity. If you've ever had a wet cast on your arm.......it's pretty gross. I'm wearing a velcro brace until I see the orthopedic on Tuesday for a new cast.

I leave in a week for Europe. Our World Championships are on Sept 1st. Hopefully my wrist will continue to heal as quickly as it has.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Until next time...

Cheers,
Alison