Weeee what a blast I had. I just got back from my first ever bike race. Collegate mountain biking, XC. I'm pretty out of shape but I thought it'd be fun and it was! I raced in the C class (beginner). The whole goal, since I'm out of shape and never raced before, was to finish in something other than dead last. And I think I was somewhere int he middle of the pack, didn't get to stay for my place since it started raining at the end but it was tons of fun, I'll definately do it again.

My time was 1:30.21 for a 9.55 mile single track course. I didn't realize it was such a long course and I didn't have enough carbs so I bonked about 3/4 of the way through but I know better next time.

I'm still on an endorphine rush haha, I can't believe more people don't do this! Even if you don't do well it's all for the fun of it anyway.

The class A's had to ride twice the distance that the C's did (we did 2 laps, they did 4)... it was amazing that they were passing me about 1/4 of the way through my second lap! Going about twice as fast as I was..... crazy, but instead of being discouraged I'm just going to train that much harder

Congrats on your first race! It sounds like you approached it with the right attitude. Elevated expectations can kill the fun in racing.

Congratulations. I also recently did my first mtb race. It was at a ski resort and had some hard climbs but it was lots of fun. I missed the beginner class start so I had to race in the Intermediate class. Everyone was super nice and I didn't finish last which was my goal. I spend more time on my road bike than my mountain bike so it was an adjustment for me.

It was 18 miles and I finished in 2:08. A lot of people were walking up the 4 mile climb up the side of the mountain but I stayed on my bike for the most part. The downhill was a blast...it was hard to see in the shade of the trees. I just looked for the dust from the guy in front of me.

Lots of fun but I'm not sure if I'll do it again.