It was a beautiful, although rather windy day in Hood River; we arrived very early, so I got a chance to ride the course a few times in between races. I was weirdly nervous for the race, I think I really thought I was just going to eat it on the gravel (surprisingly, I did not crash). It was around a high school; it had a ton of single track which I loved (although I did not love getting stuck behind roadies who can’t handle it), and a ton of gravel. I felt pretty awesome over all that stuff, but MAN did I SUCK IT on the barriers. I had my dismount down OK, although I went in too fast/didn’t get off fast enough and hit the barriers a few times. Ooooops. I also could not mount at alll. Sure on a flat grassy field I can do it, but going uphill slightly or when you’ve leapt over 3 barriers, or when you’re going super fast downhill…I just freaked out. I lost a LOT of time on people fucking up trying to get on the bike. So I’ll be spending some time getting my mount down on less then desirable surfaces this week.
I was also astounded by the amount of strength necessary for this stuff (OK, maybe not astounded, but definitely suprised). I’m also amazed that I rose to the challenge. Running uphill with a bike and leaping (or in my case walking) over barriers is SO hard. My lower back/torso were so tired by the end, man. One more lap would’ve killed me. I ended up getting 5th out of 20, I would have gotten 4th, but I dropped my chain right near the end. I thought I heard it snap so I just tried to run the bike in, but turned out it was ok, but by the time I got it back on, the girl I had been chasing (and finally passed) passed me to finish 4th. DAMN. But I still did pretty dang good for being so crappy at the barriers. Apparently Alex said I was one of the best at dismounting in the beginners. So at least I have that. And someone said my bike was cool. 
