boyne biking

On Saturday, I raced in my first Boyne Marathon mountain bike race. That's 2 loops of their course, with what felt like 75% of my time spent climbing hills. I finished in 2 hrs 46 min... It was an awesome trail-- I really loved it. I loved the aching-leg climbs, the rolling singletrack, the fast downhills. I felt good at the end, and I actually wondered if I could have survived 3 loops like the sport women completed (I raced beginner). I only had one ugly fall, right near the end. Flowing trail, followed by a sharp right turn into a downhill-- The right side was a washout, so the left was the preferred route. I remembered it too late and was thrown from my bike. My brake cables somehow wrapped around a log, so it involved some maneuvering to free my bike from the post-fall position. I ended up with minor bruising and scraping, and I was just relieved my bike was still in good shape to ride to the finish! Ah, how fun.

The cool part was that Josh and Bryce both had decent rides as well. Josh took 1st in his sport category, I got 1st out of the 3 beginner women :), and Bryce took 2nd in his sport group. Woo-hoo! Once I'm back up north, I'll post a pre-race photo of the three of us.