Race Report: Basin Bash at Snowbasin - Intermountain Cup mountain bike race series race #12

If I learned one thing about blogging while we were in Europe, it is to write and post as soon as possible after the event.  So I learned it, but still don't do it.  Here we are, back for a week and a half, tons of progress on the home addition that we have pictures and stories for, and two races later, and I'm just now posting about one of those races.  Maybe I needed a blogger vacation.  Anyhoo, here are a few notes and pics from the second to last Intermountain Cup race.
 

Basin Bash at Snowbasin

I had big doubts about how it would go at the race at Snowbasin ski resort near Ogden last Saturday.  What with 2 and a half weeks of vacationing, eating croissants, drinking beer, driving around Europe, and not riding nearly as much as I wanted to or needed to, my goal was to not come in last.  On the start line there were 9 Expert Women, a larger field than we've had in a long time. My start, despite the less than ideal warm-up, was OK and I was in 3rd going into the singletrack.  Meg Plank was hot off the front, but Amy from Roosters, who I beat at Deer Valley but who beat me at Solitude, was just ahead of me so I stuck with her.  At one of the first switchbacks, she pulled off to let a guy pass, so I passed too. What was she thinking?  So then I was in 2nd, but she was tight on my tail, so I ended up riding much harder than I was fit to do.  She messed up on one of the switchbacks, so I gained a little more on her.  She ended up passing me again, but near the top of the climb, she had a chain suck issue, so I passed her again.  Back and forth!  The course was almost 100% fun, rocky, dusty singletrack, with a very fast and sometimes sketchy descent, but I stayed ahead of her through the downhill.  My first lap was about 55 minutes, and throughout the 2nd lap, we battled back and forth.  Again, I was riding a little above my sustainable race pace for the big singletrack climb, and it hurt.  In truth, she was the faster rider, but her chain issue and a couple of bobbles kept me in the running for 2nd.  That is until the start of the 3rd, shorter half lap, where she passed me on the climb after the start/finish zone.  I popped, and was hurting the entire third half lap.  She ended up beating me by almost 5 minutes, which is really bad since until about 2 hours into the race we were within 15 seconds of each other.  Training and fitness would have made all the difference in this hot, long (2 hours 39 minutes) race, but I just didn't have it.

Still, I surpassed my goal of not coming in last by a long shot, and I was happy with how I felt and did.

The prize was a white ribbon and a $15 off coupon for Kuhl.com, a sweet local clothing company. Unfortunately, I have been unable to redeem said coupon on their website.

This was the first ICUP race at Snowbasin, but I would definitely do it again.  The venue was great,

the barbecue afterward was good, the awards were fun, and the course was excellent. It was a great day made extra fun by my carpool buddies Erica and Heather.