Yankee Springs Time Trial- Women 11-14/Middle School

Today was the first race of the MMBA series.  When I arrived at Yankee Springs it was pretty early in the morning.  For most of the day I sat around watching the races.  Quickly the time came around for me to race.  I did a short little preride before I lined up.  When I got to the start I mingled with some of the people in my age group.  The line quickly urged forward.  When I got closer to the start I got really nervous, because I was worried my little sister would pass me.  The person in charge told me to go and I took off pedaling as fast as I could.  Early on there were many people I passed.  Every once in a while, my dad would give me helpful pointers on which part of the trail to pick.  The climbs were difficult followed by technical down hills.  Multiple times I found myself struggling on turns and bumps.  Right before the matted hill Jack caught up to me.  After the top of the matted hill he passed me, but I stayed behind him.  After a few miles I passed him again.  I knew it was getting close to the finish when I started to climb Ol' Piney.  At that point, my legs were so tired I could barely feel them.  I got into the last section and worked as hard as I could. Shortly after I sprinted out of the woods and onto the final stretch.

  I was so happy because of everyone cheering me on.  After I finished, I was out of breath and tired. I waited around for my sister to finish and then went to see the results.  I got 2nd!!  I was so happy with my time too.  I beat my last year's time by over 20 minutes!  When I stood up on the podium, I felt like I couldn't stop smiling:-)

                                                Ellie K.

Ellie 2nd & Kiersen 4th