You know, even though I am on a team, I'm not really part of it. It's all about the boys. The other (two or three) women who ride for us, race for other teams. I never see them, and if I do, they're different categories. Just the same, I am proud of the boys, they do a heck of job and they're stellar athletes. Shovel and Gsteinb, I don't know where my team stands as far as championships go, we seem to take a shotgun approach and race any and everything. No matter.

This is not me, not my race, but it's from The Bison, one of our really strong riders - he writes well, too. This was his race at the CCCX course on Saturday:

"35+ 1/2/3

I left the house right on time for a change and got a nice sweat worked up on the 9.5 miles from my house to the race site. That's right, I refuse to drive to a local race. Riding to a race fully suited up is the best way to warm-up..plus you don't have to attempt yoga positions to change inside of a car. The 35+ field was at least 30 riders, the largest field I've ever seen at a CCCX course. I was the only MBRT rider in this race, but our local guy Ben, in his new Zipz kit was also with me. The field was star studded with National Champ Matt Cannio showing off his stars & stripes kit...as well as bay area strongman Nick Theobold and Larry Nolan.


February and March were record training hours for me, for the last 4-5 seasons. So I just came out of a much needed easy 2 weeks of riding. Apparently, I timed it right, as my fitness/energy felt great on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, when I'm feeling fit, I can be a bit too active in a race. The first lap around the course was an all-time record for me, 10min30sec..and I attempted twice to bridge to two break attempts.. After another lap of fooling around, I decided I better just forget about a breakaway and settle into the field. When we came around for what would usually be 3 laps to go, we saw a 4 lap to go card instead....our laps were so quick, we needed an additional lap to make 75 mins...for a total of 7. By 2 laps to go, we settled into a slightly more steady tempo. With a lap top go, I edged my way into 5th or 6th place through the S/F line. About halfway up the hill on the backside, I looked to my left in the echelon and none other was Matt Cannio sitting in my draft. This is not the first time I've witnessed him take shelter behind The Bison... Matt launched an unbelievably strong attack of my wheel, I stood up and tried to match him, but even 1100watts wasn't enough to hold his wheel. I blew up around the crest...while another 7 riders slipped into his draft. This was THE move..they had about a 10-15 second gap as we started descending. I kinda let me emotions get a hold of me and decided I wasn't racing for 9th.....I proceeded to pull the remaining 5-6 riders back to the split and then blew up at the top of the final roller....kinda stupid of me, but screw 9th place. I feel I'm in the hunt for sure..."