The cross race in Northbrook yesterday was the first really COLD race. By the time we lined up, I could barely feel my hands and feet. The woman next to me was visibly shivering. And I was pretty intimidated by the course -- two practice laps and I was not confident I wouldn't end up in the pond and was filled with terror at the thought of the crazy 'ant farm' switchbacks.

I again did poorly in the opening sprint, ending up 10 - 15 women back when we hit the narrow, twisty part. But the group stayed pretty much together to the stairs -- This course had no barriers, substituting two punishing stair climbs, the first leading to extravagant, long switchbacks down the steep hill, the second to a fast, but slippery descent. To my surprise, I was able to pass a couple people on the stairs and even more in the switchbacks. I chose not to ride the first two -- running them instead. the corners were way too steep, muddy and treacherous for my ability-level. So up the stairs, set down the bike, haul ass to the corner, skid through it, haul ass to the next corner, leap on the bike, shoot through the next two switchbacks [with teammates coaching me!] and be on my way.

I came out of the 'ant farm' fifth, which helped me immeasurably. On the flat, a racer who's been regularly finishing in the top 3, sped by me like I was standing still. Clearly, she was operating on another level than I was. Definitely something to aspire to. In the second lap, I painstakingly worked my way up to the strong racer ahead of me and got around her in the mud before the second stair climb. I could feel her running up the stairs behind me and tried to angle my bike to make it impossible for her to pass me, then hit the descent fast and tried to put some distance between us on the paved section. It worked . . . and I saw a rider ahead of me that I'd never gotten close to before! I could see she was tiring, but I had a lot of ground to make up. I caught her as we started our third lap and then really concentrated on staying ahead. Again the stairs and switchbacks favored me -- I was so far over max at the top of the stairs, the run was sheer orneriness. I could barely think and my feet still felt like blocks of frozen meat, but I came out with a gap that I managed to keep.

As I came through the start/finish, steeling myself for another lap or two, the officials were standing in front of the lap counter. "How many more?" I asked, they called back, "You're done!" Woooo! I came in fourth, my best finish so far. I met my goal of breaking into the top five.

I'm feeling more and more comfortable racing cross. I rode this course better, saw the way to do it sooner. Looking forward to next weekend!