Third time's a charm for Team Velo Girls member Simone Willett, as she learns the importance of the hole shot at the Central Coast XC Mountain Bike Race on March 30th. After second-place finishes at her last two races, Simone scored that elusive WIN!
It was a great day at the races for Team Velo Girls. Not only did Simone bring home the gold, but so did Cristina Mann (women's single speed). Julie Kinder scored a silver (CAT3 women 35-44) and Jessica Uphoff also scored a silver (CAT3 women 19-34) in her very first mountain bike race ever!
Congratulations to all our racers!
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| Simone celebrates victory! |
So it was 12PM and I looked at the weather for Tahoe this weekend and it was going to rain up at the mountain, so I decided to go to the race in Ft. Ord. I knew I needed new brake pads, so I also changed those out after I decided to go to the race, which by the time I got to bed, started just a couple hours later.
Got some Starbucks and made the 1.5 hour drive down and it’s lightly raining. The start of the race I took off first (Note: put the bike in the big chain ring in the front), then kept the same pace along the road to get to the single track. I let this one girl pass me but wasn’t going to let anyone else. I sat on her wheel for a mile or two before she started braking down all the downhills. I excel at the light rain and mud, I love that traction it gives you, so I passed her and never saw her again.
Before the 3rd lap I thought it was over so I was racing this guy to what I thought was the finish then slowed down until I heard my boyfriend yell that there was another lap to go! Whoops. I caught up to the other guy and sat behind him for a while until he died on one of the hills. After that I snuck down a gu-like thing from my pocket after spilling half of it and that gave me the little bit I needed to finish off the race.
I learned my lesson about being first to the single track after last weekend I let this mom and her daughter pass me and it took me so long to get by them that I never saw the first place person again. Really makes a difference to have that positioning. I’ll have to work harder on making it to be the first to the single track.
Fun race!
-Simone
Got some Starbucks and made the 1.5 hour drive down and it’s lightly raining. The start of the race I took off first (Note: put the bike in the big chain ring in the front), then kept the same pace along the road to get to the single track. I let this one girl pass me but wasn’t going to let anyone else. I sat on her wheel for a mile or two before she started braking down all the downhills. I excel at the light rain and mud, I love that traction it gives you, so I passed her and never saw her again.
Before the 3rd lap I thought it was over so I was racing this guy to what I thought was the finish then slowed down until I heard my boyfriend yell that there was another lap to go! Whoops. I caught up to the other guy and sat behind him for a while until he died on one of the hills. After that I snuck down a gu-like thing from my pocket after spilling half of it and that gave me the little bit I needed to finish off the race.
I learned my lesson about being first to the single track after last weekend I let this mom and her daughter pass me and it took me so long to get by them that I never saw the first place person again. Really makes a difference to have that positioning. I’ll have to work harder on making it to be the first to the single track.
Fun race!
-Simone
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