KELLI EMMETT RACE UPDATE: SEA OTTER

“I must say, I hit speeds that I didn’t think were possible on a mountain bike.”

Starting the weekend off with the Super D is never a bad thing. It’s a great confidence booster and usually involves some kind of fun shenanigans that can put you into a “don’t take yourself to seriously” kind of mood. This year was definitely no different and we ended up starting the race on our knees, facing the opposite direction of our bike and with your knees on the ground. This year the course was ridiculously fast and no man-eating size ruts to slow you down. Just full on fast and furious downhilling. I must say, I hit speeds that I didn’t think were possible on a mountain bike. Well, by pulling a roadie tactic of “sitting on” till the last hill, I was able to sprint by Rachael Lloyd over the last small climb and hold her off till the finish. I usually don’t like to race with such lame tactics but I had to make sure to be the first rider over the last hill if I wanted to win. Sorry Rachael…

Next day was the Short Track, which I was excited to see on the schedule after we were told that there was no budget for it this year. It’s a great event for spectators to watch and I finally figured out how to race this event. Well, some of the time. The race is really about getting a good start and being in that front group because it typically breaks away from the rest of group. Hmmm. Well, I didn’t really get that great of a start and heard someone from the crowd say I was in 17th place on the first lap. Dang, that made for a lot of extra work that day. I felt great during the race and was able to work my way up to 6th by the end. Little Emily Batty from Trek ended up taking the win for the day with a surprise attack and Lene Byberg was able to out sprint, Catharine Pendrel, for second place. I gotta say it was great to see some new girls, not in blue, mixing things up a bit.

XC day was finally here and I was pretty motivated to get out there and redeem myself from the day before. The only problem, I hadn’t done a pre-ride on the course before the race and the course was reduced from 2 laps to 1 because of the 98-degree heat. Global Warming?? Who knows?? We just got 3 feet of snow in the mountain of Colorado and heard skiing was pretty sweet.

Anyways, my original race plan was to take it easy on the first lap and get the course dialed and then make my move on the 2nd lap when everyone was tired. So, this meant I had to use my memory from last year’s race to get me through. That was exactly how I remembered it but much sandier so I was a little slower on the descents and using the climbs to make up time. Georgia Gould took the lead about 15 minutes into the race and was able to hold on for the entire race. Very impressive… And, I tried to hang to Catharine and Lene on the climbs, so I could use them to ride behind. The course was definitely sandier this year and was not sure what sand pits lurked around each corner. But, the girls were able to gap me over the top of one of the steep climbs about 45 minutes into the race. So, for the rest of the race, I was in no-man’s land wondering if Willow was going to make her usual late race surge and catch up to me. Well, she definitely got close, but I was able to barely hold her off and finish 4th. It felt great to get back to the podium!!!!