There's no 'hell' in Helen

This weekend brought the Fat Tire Fest in scenic, historic, downtown Alpine Helen, Ga. This year the trail was dry (after several straight years of rainy race days), and the weather was, well, not as hot as it has been lately.

Sat morning Jake and I met up with Grant and Chad and headed out on a pre-ride. The trail was not as relentlessly hilly as in year's past, and despite the 1,000 feet of climbing per 8.5 mile lap, it was fun and fast. There was only one nasty, rocky climb that everyone walked up (including the guys on my pre-ride). One or two of the climbs were real killers -- they just kept going and going and going. But I jsut kept pedaling and pedaling and pedaling, and made it up just fine. I was starting to feel really good about Sunday's race!

Sat afternoon we tubed down the "Hooch." For those of you who have not had this particular experience, just don't bother. Really. We had to walk the tubes often because the water was shallow, and there were so many drunk Rednecks and teenagers, it was ridiculous. Seriously, I think we all wanted to quit about 1/2 way into it.

So Sunday brought the race. It was AWESOME. It was my first straight mtb race of the season, and my first racing against all age-groups of women. I knew I didn't stand a chance against some of them (and I'll argue that one or two should be racing expert at this point), but I thought I stood a good chance against some of the others. When the race started I was in the back of the pack up the looooong hill and into the singletrack -- which was usual, as the asthma prevents me from making fast uphill starts. I passed two ladies after a minute or two, and spent the entire rest of the time chasing down Nikki, who I caught glimpses of every now and again through the woods.

At one point I came up on Dean, who had taco'd his wheel in a crash and was taking it easy for the rest of the race. He paced me through the field and up a few hills, I slowed him down on the downhill switchbacks, and just when he was thinking of dropping off my wheel on a climb, he saw another guy up ahead, made the realization that if he passed that guy the he wouldn't be last, so he hopped back on my wheel and off we climbed! I lost Dean at the start of the second lap, but I think he stayed ahead of the other guy and didn't finish last.

Speaking of not finishing last, I finally caught up with Nikki on a climb (what's that you say?? Renee caught someone on a CLIMB??). Yes, on a climb. But she's killer on the downhills, so she quickly left me in the dust. One dropped chain later, I never caught back up with her. I talked to her after the race and she said I made her ride faster cause she kept being worried I would finally overtake her. She made me ride faster, too, so it was mutually beneficial, even if she did elude me in the end.

I finished the day 6 of 8, and beat Elizabeth -- who I NEVER beat -- so I was happy!! Elizabeth is a strong rider, and I'm sure she was having an off day, but I still felt good about it.

I've never been a great climber, at all. So to beat some people on one of the series' most hilly courses made me feel really good about myself and my abilities.

Jake and Grant finished respectably in their races. And SUPER STAR Beth took home a fourth place podium spot in her FIRST EVER MTB RACE!!! I've been riding with her since she first got a bike (IN JANUARY) and it's been so fun and encouraging to see her progress like this. Very soon she'll be outriding all of us!! Watch out Expert ladies!

Now I'm looking forward to Xterra next weekend. It's gonna be hot and painful, but I can't wait!!
:)