My First Super D!

(Sorry no audio above during a certain section - YouTube muted. Will have to redo later)

What a freakin' awesome concept, a Super D, ya know? The concept of shuttling your ass up to the top of a hill (no real climbing!) and then you race mostly downhill without the scare of 5 ft drops and 30% steeps. You get a certain start time with 2 chances to shred it. THOUGH this is my first one so who knows if some other Super Ds are nutso steep technical where you need a 45 in travel bike. I did this one on my hardtail. The course is bumpier than it looks, corners are tighter than they look, but overall a nice XC type downhill at about a -3% average grade.

Oh. My. God. People. I was sooo sore from the XC race the day before. Between my crashes and the epic race course MBAA conjured up for us, my body was mush. So I couldn't hardly hover in that important ready position, my sit bones were sore, and I had scratches and deep bruises all over. What's a girl to do? Suck it up!

I wake up feeling like death kicked me all night on my right side (where I crashed both times), but I actually slept better than before the XC race. Probably exhaustion. I fumble down to the Super D registration without brushing my teeth (oops), check in, pee, lolligag a little, talk to some friends, worry about if they can smell my unbrushed breath, then head back to the tent to get ready. As I'm taking my sweet ass time in my tent, I hear some vehicles going by. I think no, that wasn't the shuttles already, registration doesn't close for another 15 min. I head down to the venue and find that it WAS the shuttles and now I have 25 min to get to my first run start time. So if the race is downhill guess what I have to do...CLIMB. BLAAA! So. Over. Climbing. Right now. I get crappy directions then get going.

I'm making decent time, tired and sore but unfortunately I was making decent time in completely the wrong direction. I find some others that missed the shuttles riding back down telling me there was a dead end with no right hand turn, which we were looking for. I turn around and start riding with a couple of guys. We turn and head down a jeep road running into the Arizona Trail. I know the Arizona Trail runs into the Super D course at some point. We start heading east though we know we can't just ride up the course when we get to it with racers coming down it. We run into this other dirt road right before it and take it uphill. At the dirt road end with a gate, I recognize Jon Shouse's Honda. Jon is the man when it comes to MBAA and running events like this. I believe he said he was going to be the start man. I knew we were close but the guys decided to take a nap and wait for their next run. I go on down the connector trail to see if I can find Jon and the start. I do and chat with him and another volunteer. He says I have about 20 min to get down and catch the next shuttle. I really want to preride this all the way down as I don't know it past the XC turn off. We did half of it for the XC race.

Mid-way. A little jump my legs wimped out on.

I go on down. Why not, it's downhill right? Well my legs are screaming at me and it's bumpy as hell. At the end there are 3 little hills. UGH. The last mile or so is basically the first mile of the XC course backwards. People are yelling at me to pedal, pedal, pedal, wondering why I'm not going as fast as I can and I yell "I'm a nerd and missed my shuttle, just chillin!" I get back to the venue right in time to catch the shuttle.

It would be so nice if there was a van waiting for us at the bottom of hills for all races. Next year I won't be missing my run as the van shows me the turn I missed. We're dropped off and head down the connector. It's rather loose and chunky with big rocks. I don't like it and wait for everyone to go by. Suddenly, the guy ahead wrecks hard down it. Holy crap that looked like a Red Bull crash video. There are a few of us to help and I pull his bike over and collect some stray items. I believe they call that a Yardsale crash? He's really hurt. Blood all over his face and a possible collar bone break. I head up the trail and yell at the volunteer guy that someone crashed hard. I wish I knew how he ended up. I hop in line not really sure how this all works. I ask the person next to me the time and how we know we are up next. They laugh and say you're 83rd, you're way back there. My number was 83. Oh. Well shit, my number for XC was 249 but I didn't start 249 spots behind, smartass. I don't know how these timed events go but yeah had I been a bit more observant, I could have noticed everyone was in order. I go back to my spot feeling a little dumb.

Waiting waiting...here we go. The girl in front of me waits as a few are missing in between the last girl that went. They start every 15 sec on the start time assigned. She goes. I turn on my Go Pro. 3, 2, 1...and I'm off...

Not 5 sec into it I realize I forgot to start my damn Garmin. Oh but I didn't forget my stupid Go Pro. Geez. My mind is telling me to leave it but my OCD is telling me it'll bug me all the way down if it's not on. I try to start it. Not easy with bumps and turns, trying to sprint. I finally get it on my 3rd attempt, collect myself and get going. I feel a bit slow at first trying to get over that "I'm going to crash again" feeling. I catch the girl that started ahead of me and she lets me by. I start feeling the flow about a few min in. I also start feeling my legs wanting to cramp almost giving way every time I hover. I try to sit...ouch my butt bones. I try to concentrate on technique to get my mind off of it. I should have concentrated on that from the get-go. The course is very flowy with lots of turns. I keep repeating "Outside foot down, counter steer, stay low to the handle bars, a little pressure on the front wheel, lean the bike not yourself, spin a little to keep from cramping, pedal pedal pedal!" My inner coach talks to me all the way down. I'm also letting out some groans and yells when it starts to hurt as you'll see on the video. I don't know why but I always feel better letting the pain out vocally then I'm good for a bit then repeat. So if you're around me and I start making weird, almost like sex noises, I'm probably hurting and/or redlining it. Sorry if it turns you on.

Towards the end. Thanks for the pic, Mark!

By minute 5 I'm hurting but feeling great and having a blast. I so wish I had this course memorized. It gets very fast around that time. I pass by who I think is Connor and another helping her. I ask if all is ok and they give the "go for it." Later I found that she crashed hard and hurt her knee. I'm sorry, Connor!

I'm definitely better at sprinting this type of stuff than the one million feet of climbing up fire roads. I feel great at this. I shake off those stupid thoughts of "oh man this will hurt if you crash" as I pick up speed and can hear the trees whoosh by. I see the girl that started a couple in front of me and I'm catching her. I get down to a few folks cheering and reminding me to take my speed into the corner as there is a climb around it. I do and get up it as fast as I can and am still gaining on her. I hit the second hill with no problem but the 3rd gets me a little. It's not crazy hard or long but at this point I'm breathing like I'm having a baby and it might as well be 2 miles long. I lose sight of the girl but know that if she's in my category, I probably will have a faster time catching her to an extent. Oh that sweet finish is just around the corner and I probably could provide electricity to Flagstaff for a few minutes as fast as I'm pedaling. I hear cheers, cow bells, and my name being shouted. It helps on the last push. Thank you! In that last dead sprint in front of everyone, I'm thinking "Don't pass out, don't pass out. That. Would. Be. EMBARRASSING!"  I speed around the last bend and do a wheelie at the finish. Ok not really, I more like collapsed on my wheel but that sounded better.

Finally, I calm down and get a rush like no other. I feel fantastic! All I can think is that I WISH I had another run at this. I'm talking to my friends and I hear the times. Sounds like everyone improved by a minute or so the second time. So not missing next year's shuttle/first run. Lesson learned. I didn't know what category to put myself in since this was my first Super D/downhill type event, so I entered in the Intermediate Women (the beginners basically). I find that I won my category and would have placed second in the Open. Sweet! Sue jokingly calls me a sandbagger which I take as a compliment. I found I could have hung with the big girls. We stand on the best podium ever and I receive my medal. Thanks so much for the pics, Sue!

Best Podium Ever!

The next few days I wondered how I even stood that day let alone raced again as I was completely zonked and could barely walk. I'm so glad I did this though as I have never felt that extreme rush after anything before not even the XC races. I can see now how people get addicted to downhill even after busting themselves up over and over. I can't explain it. I guess you'll have to enter a Super D and find out for yourselves! :)