Swasey Shred 03/08/20 – Cate Flowers

I was a little anxious for my first race, but my goals were to finish and beat 2 people soooo, I didn’t feel a lot of pressure. I went to the general lineup area and was in the last line with Miya and Linda and only about 20 sophomore girls.😂😂 I was getting a little worried at that point that I would be able to get to the single track fast enough and when I saw the JV girls take off I was excited for a second and then they postponed our race almost 15 minutes because someone fell down.😬

Then the stokemaster?? Came out and started singing songs about ham and eating food which made me hungryyyyy and still more nervous. When they finally set us off I was in the wrong gear and kinda wasn’t expecting the lineup to sprint so fast so I had to catch up a bit. I sprinted past a lot of the pack and got into the single track ahead of a couple people and then I slowed down a little to get through the mud puddles😂😂

The first lap I was really trying to stay ahead of the sophomores and going a little too fast and I made sure to not hit any trees!! I passed some people on climbs but usually got passed on the flat parts and on the rolls section I fell over and almost went off of the track😣 but I was ok!!

The second lap I realized how much I was nooot pacing myself and had to recover during the race which was a bit difficult. The second lap I made it up almost all the hills and started sprinting again at the end and passed some people. Also all the girls were SO POLITE when passing or being passed everyone was super willing to move over😊 Sooo when I finished I felt really accomplished because I finished my first NICA race and didn’t get last place!!!😃 EVERYONE WAS AMAZINGGGG😱😱