The group went out to the course today. It was a mix of good and bad. The climb was steep right off the start, after a short section through some grass.
It was a pretty long climb, but nothing compared to home, and was not as steep as Champery! At the top of the climb, it turned to sweet single-track. I was in the lead so I didn’t think twice when we came to the descent. I rode down to the bottom, feeling a little sketched out but not too worried. Alicia came right on my tail, followed bye Linnea. Unfortunately we looked up and saw that Ellie had crashed, and it looked pretty bad. We waited until she was able to walk down to where we were. Her ankle was pretty messed up and she was COVERED in mud!
Luckily nothing was too bad but the rest of the girls were a little worried about the descent! :( We let Ellie go down and rode the rest of the course. There were no more intense descents...to my disappointment :), but it was still some epic single-track riding.
After doing two laps on course, we rode down to the town of Albstadt to get some lunch. Linnea, Wesley and I went to a little pizza place while the others went to find money. We walked up to the counter and the man immediately knew we were Americans. He started babbling about the food but none of us knew what was going on. It was very overwhelming because I could not understand the slightest word of German! Maybe I should use that Rosseta Stone we bought... :D
After lunch we took a shopping day- I was trying so hard to find something with a German flag on it, but I could not find anything! It was so disappointing! Finally Ellen and I went on a mad hunt for something I could buy- we found some flip flops in the little boys section at a store so I bought them. Ellen and I sat dumbfounded as the checkout lady talked to us non stop. NO idea what she was saying. Oh well :)- Gino’s race tomorrow!
Day 17- Preride again
Today was Gino’s race. We all went out to preride the course, as the groups in this race took a different one. I am starting to feel a little sick but hopefully it gets better by race day! We watched the little kids race, which was really cool- they had so many participants. Connie took us to this stand that was selling recycled items, made from TIRES! SO awesome. She bought us all bracelets made from tubes and they are so cool! I spotted a tote bag... made of Racing Ralph tires.... I had to have it. It was the high point of my day, coolest thing I have ever bought!
After my excitement with the bag, we walked around waiting for Gino’s start. Unfortunately, Gino did not get to do the awesome short course we did, but instead did a long 13 mile loop. He ended up getting 2nd in his age category which was awesome! It was a fun day to watch the race and great to see some of the same racers from last weeks race! Race day tomorrow!
Day 18- Race day
UGH. My ultimate disappointment- I was too sick to race. Throwing up all morning, didn’t get any sleep. Worst feeling ever. I was so sad I could not race. The girls were all getting ready and I was just coughing up a lung. It was pouring rain of course... my absolute favorite conditions to race in.... which made it even harder for me to admit that I should not race. Instead I went out on course and cheered for the girls.
It was an epic race- Sabin Smitz was leading by minutes and the mud was just flying everywhere. Girls were crashing left and right and it was insane to watch. I went up to the first downhill to take pictures of the girls coming down the hill. Linnea was walking, and I knew she could ride it, so I screamed at her to get back on. She got on.... and rode 10 feet off the course into a bush. WHOOPS!
Next time I’ll keep my mouth shut! :D Next came Ellie, poor girl, she was having a hard time getting down the hill with all the mud. She ended up crashing in the same place, this time really bad.
I helped her off course because her ankle was pretty torn up. This German medic came.... and he just would not leave us alone! He didn’t speak a word of English and a little French so we were trying desperatley to tell him I would take Ellie to Drew.
He obviously did not get it as he walked down the entire hill with us. Such confusion in this language! Luckily my friend Kevin helped sort things out and translated for us, making the journey much easier! Ellie was in good hands so I went on course again, not knowing how the others were doing. Alicia was killling it! She ended up 9th in the field which was awesome! The rest of the girls did great and I was so proud to be walking around with the American colors on my back!
Racing was over and packing was soon to begin. The group washed off the mud and started taking apart the bikes. I was really sad to be leaving but also happy to see my friends and family at home. Driving to the airport was fun- Ellen and I were the “sickies” so we were shunned from the van, but we had fun with Drew! I just hope I can get on a plane and home safely!
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