As all highly rational people would, I moved myself, my husband, and my dog back to New York City, didn’t ride bikes that much for weeks, and didn’t ride my mountain bikes for months… and subsequently decided racing mountain bikes would be a smashing idea!

Well, as idiotic as that sounds (and is), actually it was great! I was told I needed to upgrade because when you’re executing a plan this silly you might as well upgrade yourself to Cat 1 in mountain bikes, so you can race in the Pro/1 field. Shane and I set out from the city at 7:15 am on a beautiful, sunny morning, and drove the approximately 90 minutes to Port Jervis, New York. We took a winding road up to the top of a hill (mountain? IDK), and found the race.

We got our number plates and headed out for a quick pre-ride. The start was flat to a steep uphill, to a moderately technical descent, to rollers. I said to myself that getting a good start and trying to be in the first position into the descent would be really beneficial, because I knew Shane could descend it faster than I could. We warmed up a bit more and went to the start. Shane and I (teammates, friends, and when racing people who really want to beat each other) lined up with our friend Andrea as the only starters in the Pro/1 field. I was excited and also nervous that I didn’t bring enough (okay, anything) to eat during the race.

We started and immediately they were going pretty fast. But I knew the climb out of the start was steep and I could really gun it—climbing is my thing. I got into the first position and then just tried to ride fast down the technical descent. The next few miles involved rolling climbs and descents with a bunch of turns. Shane was right on my tail. I couldn’t see Andrea but I also didn’t know how far behind she was. We made a turn for the long loop (our course was two long and one short) and started a sustained climb. I knew it was time to try to drop Shane—if she was with me on the downhills she would definitely pass me. I picked up the pace and just tried to go as hard as I could. I started to get some distance.

I didn’t see Shane again—partly because, as I’d find out much later, she flatted. I just kept going as fast as I could and had a lot of fun chasing and being chased by the mens’ fields. I worked to ride smooth around the corners as I was starting to remember how to ride a mountain bike again. I came through the line alone with a solid gap.

I found out about Shane’s flat and felt terrible for her! I wanted to win, for sure, but I wanted to win because we all rode our best races. Shane came through the finish, told me about her flat, and said she wanted to keep going so she could stand on the podium. I hung out, chatted with people, and tried to drink a boatload of water.

We hung around and waited for the podium. I was so happy with how my race went! It was a ton of fun and even though our field was really small, I raced as hard as I could because I didn’t know when Shane was going to catch me. The trails were great, and it was even a bit more rocky and technical than what I expected for a cross country race.

The best part of the day was hanging around with Shane—I really missed her in my years back home. Having a friend you can drive to a race with, pre-ride and strategize with, and race hard against when the race begins is really special. Absolutely can’t wait for the next one.