may as well publicize it...

Nothing like a good ass-kicking to get the season started. haha wow. So I entered the NZ series cup race in Nelson last Sunday. The course was great: 5 laps with just over 5k per lap, almost all singletrack, no real techy sections and about a million switchbacks.

It started off with a long climb up a dirt road to spread the racers out and let me tell ya, the start was FAST. The whistle blew, and I was immediately at the back of the pack desperately trying to hang on to anybody in front me. Once we got into the singletrack at the top, a few girls went down and I was able to slip past them without getting dangled up in the crash. The next 2 laps were uneventful, I didn't really pass or get passed. I was really just trying to make my way up to a racer who I would catch glimpses of every now and again.

80, good number

And then on the 3rd lap: BIGGEST CRASH OF MY LIFE.

It happened so fast, but I remember it in slow motion. I hit a bump in the trail and instead of absorbing it I got some air, landed on the edge of the track which was super soft and flew off the front of my bike into a thorny bush. I sat there, winded but intact, with my bike tangled somewhere below me. It happened to be a high density spectator area, so several people came down to help me.

They were all asking, "Are you ok?!"
All I remember saying is, "I think I'm in a rosebush."
Them, "They're blackberries."
"I see."

A woman asked me to hang on to her dog while her and another man helped untangle my bike from the thicket. Illegal yes, but they were so eager to help, I was so full of little thorns, and I love dogs... I didn't decline their help. At this point I had been passed by everyone and knew that I would be pulled before the end of the race anyway..hmm does that make it ok to accept help from others? Now I'm not so sure...

Everybody kept asking me if I was going to keep racing. My prickly hands told me absolutely not, but the fact the announcers called out, "ERICA BOTA FROM CANADA!" every time I started a new lap, and the fact that it was just a crash and it happens all the time, meant that I had no choice but to continue.

In the end after continuing on to complete a 4th lap, I was pulled off the course. Embarrassing. They directed me to a little path of shame off to the right of the course. I felt bad for myself for a few minutes, found Caitlin who had been my faithful feeder each lap and who was still watching the course eagerly, waiting for my arrival, and her and I had a good laugh at what had just happened.

I'm not too disappointed. I have a lot of training and racing ahead of me and will look back at this event and laugh, as I already do. Oh good times...

sad, crash site