Slushy cross racing

After the kind offer of a lift to the cross race in Macclesfield I was up nice and early listening to the rain!  After some pushing of the car after it got stuck on an iced over road when we picked someone else up we were on our way.  When we arrived it was cold and very very wet.  Lots of people were sounding very negative about the course so I entered before I could change my mind!!!  The pre-ride was fine, I was nice and warm in all my layers and although the slush-puppy course was hard going it was mainly rideable.  The only real worry was the two hurdles, they felt very tall with my little legs!!!

Soon it was the start and my last extra layer was shoved in a rear pocket and I was away.  It felt like everyone was moving faster than me but I kept going!  Lap two and I passed another female but had no idea who else was in the race, I had noticed her get away at the start.  Everytime I looked over my shoulder I could see Anita just behind me, she is a lot stronger than me off the bike and I made an error trying to stay on my bike on one climb and she got within a metre of me.  At this point I knew I had to work hard on the parts of the course I was strongest on.  One of my favourite bits by this point was a muddy mess and I had given up changing gears seeing as I was just using my easiest gear the whole time!

Then someone said I was on my last lap, too scared to look back and wondering how everyone lapping me seemed to be going so fast I kept pushing.  I was aware I was slower now and was glad to see the finish.  I crossed the line with noone around me.  At this point I realised that my feet had been replaced with blocks of ice and walking was pretty painful.  A hobble to the car and a complete change of clothes led to me feeling a bit better.

After getting home I got a text to tel me I was the first female, pretty pleased with that as it was a hard race.  Next stop Todmorden next weekend.