This weekend found us in Nashville, TN for races #3 and 4 of the ongoing Cross the Way series.

On Saturday, we arrived to a soggy course. It had rained for about 12 or the previous 24 hours, so the mud was fierce. It’s OK, though… I like mud. Once again, only one other woman showed for the 1/2/3 race. It was Ashley James, a strong collegiate rider from my previous team- Team Kenda Tire. She finished several places ahead of me at USGP the follwoing weekend, but I was hoping that my mud-wrangling abilities would play to my favor this weekend.

When the race started, I took the lead through the sloppy/of camber section. Soon after, we went into the woods, down a large hill, then up a really steep, chunky run-up. I was feeling hopeful until the next section- a loooooong, slick drag of a hill. With my 40T single chainring, I found myself overgeared. She spun past me while I was grinding at somewhere around 40rpms…

No excuses, though. I’m pretty sure that even if I’d had better gearing, should still would have taken me out at that point.

Following the hill, the course went back through some hairpins and more mud. For the first two laps, I was able to sucessfully close the gap between the two of us in that part of the course, but the 3rd & 4th times up the hill were to be my downfall. I was toast.

Being Halloween, I almost rode in costume, but then decided that I’d go partial costume for the race, then change into the rest of it afterward. There were some good ones…