I’m a bit behind on posting on the events in June. It was a pretty crazy month for me. 3 weekends of events, a new project at work that is rather large, as well as an inspection at work, along with trying to get things done around my house. I was also checking on Robin’s house/cat for a few weeks, until he found a home.
I’m just going to jump into the first weekend event. NMTA, trials event at Sipapu, it was a two-day event. Such an amazing location to ride a bike. I really loved riding around the slopes looking at the sections on Friday. I finished just as the rain started, good timing on my part. I loved that the evenings were so cool, actually cold, I had to pull out fleece and layers. I was really looking forward to riding the Beta. It would be the first time I’d gotten to compete on it. (I really need to ride it more; period I’ve only been on it like 5 times.)
I stayed with Alysha’s dad as he was helping me out. That let’s Matt help her, she does better that way. Matt was kind enough to help me too, since we all tried to stick together. I made it through the first loop of sections, but when I started the second, I started to feel really sick to my stomach, I decided to head back to the trailer.
Good call on my part, by the time I got there I had a REALLY bad headache. I sat in the chair for a few, thinking I might be sick. That seemed to pass after I drank what water was left in my camelback. Then I tried to get out of the chair… Tried. It wasn’t happening, I had the most awful cramps in my legs, I couldn’t get up. After a bit I decided to just push through it… Yeah, that didn’t work out so well for me. It was horrible. I finally got out of the chair but had to crawl into the trailer. I managed to get the coconut water out of the fridge, I downed that. After about 10 min or so I was able to sit down without the cramps. I laid across the bench for a bit feeling light headed. I was able to get up and find some propel in the cupboard, I drank a few more of those. About 3 hours later I was finally feeling better. I’m just going to go out on a limb and say that I was a tad dehydrated. I haven’t managed to do that to myself in very long time. I didn’t feel like I was dehydrated at all before it slammed me into the ground.
I made it a point to drink more fluids through the afternoon while I was scoring in the afternoon. It took me forever to find the section I was scoring. I’m glad I decided to ride to it. There was no way I would have made it if I’d tried walking. It was the section the farthest up the mountain for the whole weekend. I finally got there. It was super steep; I wouldn’t have wanted to ride it. At least not until I get more time on the beta. It was a good time scoring with two other women riders.
Sunday I wasn’t sure how things were going to go. I felt better, but I’d felt fine the day before too. Turns out that I had dressed too warm, I had to shed layers by the second section. I also made it a point to take off my helmet when I walked the sections. I stayed cooler that way. I made it a point to take off the camelback when riding the sections. I had been keeping it on me, but dropping that extra weight did seem to help. Not sure why, it’s not like it’s that heavy. I need re-evaluate my gear for this, some lighter weight stuff would help, I’m torn on what to do about the knee braces. There is too much walking for all my dirt gear, I get too hot and tired too quick.
I do need to make sure that I use my armored gloves. I smacked my hand into a tree in one of the sections at the end of the day. I broke my pinky just above the first joint. I basically punched the tree with my hand, I had three fingers on the clutch lever and the pinky got smashed between the bar and the lever. The three fingers were fine, (just a bit sore and swollen) as the knuckles had good armor over them, but DANG did it hurt for a bit. I only had three sections left so I decided to keep riding. (of course, I’m a glutton for punishment like that.) I rode the next section just fine, well for getting a 3. The next one, my hand was just too weak for the clutch work, so I fell over onto the hand. It took me a bit before I was ready to go on. The last section I cleaned. I also have to make sure that I remember where I’m supposed to go in the sections…. I made 3 of the MUCH harder that I should have by not knowing where I was going. In all I was really happy with the weekend. It just proved to me that if I could learn how to do slow tight turns I’d actually do really well. Something for me to focus on.
I didn’t score on Sunday so I was able to watch the sections. They all were pretty close to each other, so I could in one spot see 3 of them without having to move.