2013 Iceman- MYC Women 12-14

"One minute til go."  This was it.  I was getting ready to start my first full Iceman.  I was lined up ready to go.  I looked around and saw Summer, Hannah, and other girls that I race with, and also some people I didn't know.  I was cold and nervous. "Five seconds.......riders go!"

We took off and I decided to follow Summer since she is fast.  I stayed on her wheel the first couple of miles  so I wouldn't waste all my energy.  Another girl took off, but I didn't want to go to fast that early and use up all of my energy.

A mile or two into the two track we started catching some of the boys from the wave in front of us.  As we rode, we passed more of a variety of riders.  I wasn't cold anymore and was having fun.  I was looking forward to the singletrack, but there were lots of riders and they were going slow in those sections.  I wanted to pass but there wasn't an opportunity to get around them.  As soon as the trail opened up, I took off.

As I got closer to Williamsburg Road there were a lot of people cheering.  That was cool.  They even had an announcer.  I was happy to know I was over half way done and still felt good. The rest of the race went fast. Right after Anita's Hill I passed some teammates.  They cheered me on and I told them good job.  My favorite part was going through the campground towards the end.  There were lots of people and I knew I was almost done.

I finished in 2:47 and got third place.  After I crossed the finish line my mom came to tell me good job.  As we walked I thought I saw a box of donuts.  It turned out they were cookies, but that was okay because I was starving.  

This was a fun racing season.  I liked getting to see Claire at all of the road races and crits, and even a few off road stuff.  It was also nice seeing the Summer and other girls at mountain bike races. I'm looking forward to getting to see everyone back out at the races in the spring.