one pedal stroke at a time

Manawa made me nervous this morning and I was right about that!

We had the biggest beginner women's class yet, which was really cool. I think, we were 7 or 8.
They started us with the Clydesdale's and Stephanie was right there in front with me behind her.

One of the girls from Lincoln, think her name is also Stephanie passed me as well. Wow, that will be a fast race...
We met all up again at the first log crossing. It's a big one. I can't ride it and the other girls didn't ride it either. We made it through the next obstacles, some ridden, some walked, until, we came up to this pretty big log that has a rock in front and behind of it to help you ride over it. I had practiced riding that one this week and hit that thing at least 6 times. Well, I hit it today, crossed it and then I don't know what happened, but I went over the handled over the handlebars and kissed the dirt....ouch! I also landed on my bike.
It took me a a moment to recover from that and by then, I was almost LAST. W H A T ?????
There was one more straight ahead and I got passed again. Heilige Scheisse!!
Entering the next more technical section, which is marked as blue and very windy, I decided, I decided it was time to get back what I lost and switched my bike into battle-mode.
I put my bike into the big chain ring and put the pedal to the medal.
And over the rest of the race, I did what I planned to do: passing one by one...
A lot of the girls are beginner racers. In very good shape and fast, but a little bit inexperienced when it comes to picking a line on those "swirly" trails in Manawa. Well, good for me, because, I do:)
So, by the time, we crossed the street, I had all but three. No. 3, I actually ran down on the flat stretch (my HR at 183). I could tell, that this was Marc's doing again, because only with his training, was I able to do that.
Back into the swirly trails and I pushed even harder because, I could see the first two, just 30, maybe 20 seconds ahead of me.
I tried so hard to hunt them down and I almost had them twice but they got away again. I don't don't why. Maybe my riding got sloppy. Then in the last minute, they built that stupid 180 degree turn in the trail and I wasn't prepared for that and had to put a foot down. The trail there was very rough and even though I tried to sprint up to catch the two but there was no way to reach them in time. I came through the finish line just a few seconds later...

Third Place. Not bad considering that I came back from the dead...
Good news. Stephanie, the girl that won last time made only second. She got beat by a friend of Daryl. She is a Triathlete. Good for her.
As for the points. I am still leading by over 20 points in the overall standing.