2014 Ocup #6 Mountainview Midland

Racing at Mountainview summed up so much of the things I love about mountain biking & racing.
It was hard & fun & felt badass!

 Mountainview ski area is like a place out of a movie.  Old & funny & like a secret hideout hidden in a forest behind a mall.

On Saturday - pre ride day - I arrived early to get my ride in because it was supposed to rain in the afternoon.   But...just as I headed out it had already started to rain.  The first few minutes of riding the trails were fantastic & grippy - but by the end of my lap I was completely soaked & totally muddy.  During my muddy ride I met up with another friend slip sliding through the forest & we laughed silly like kids riding & sliding our way to the end in the pouring rain & mud.  So I was lucky...got a fun lap in before the course was closed.

And then it rained more.  Lots more.  I went home & cleaned up my muddy mess.
And it kept on raining all day.

In spite of the rain I was feeling excited and confident about racing on Sunday.  Even though I knew I was going to line up to race on a slippery course again (like Nationals! Yikes!).  I was feeling good about my prep (tires at low pressure!) and after a fun time pre riding on Saturday in the heavy rain - followed by some very enjoyable socializing in the funny Mountainview chalet/secret hideout - I was in an awesome positive mood!

Lining up on Sunday...not very many of us girls brave enough to race after the deluge (50mm as per Superfly racing).  I was in 'bring it on!' mode anyway so didn't matter who was there.  I was good to go & just focused on the trail ahead.
Some sections - especially the downhill stuff on narrow tight edges and the big steep switchbacks for sure last year I would not have ridden.  In fact I doubt very much I would have even lined up to race!  But this year instead I was feeling all confident and badass - and rode those sketchy downhill sections clean with people cheering & blowing horns!  In wet slippery conditions too!  Yeah! Bring it on!

Such a challenging & interesting bunch of trails. So cool to be so completely focused the race felt like it was only 5 mins.   Until I crossed the finish line & it hit me.  Totally spent - get me some chocolate milk - that was awesome!

And to top it off...this!  Woo hoo!!