I know this race report is a little late as the race was last weekend…but here’s the recap on my last minute invite to race a couple of the Xterra Brazil series events! It was a pretty quick trip; I flew out of DC on wednesday night and arrived in Belo Horizonte on thursday morning. I was picked up at the airport along with a few others who were part of the race crew (and didn’t speak ANY english…) and driven a couple of hours out into the country to Santa Barbara in the state of Minas Gerais. One little note, if you get car sick easily don’t go to Brazil! I’m sure the overnight flight, poor nutrition and dehydration didn’t help, but they drive like crazy people and it took all the willpower I could muster not to get sick in the van on the way! Once I got some fresh air, water, lunch and a good walk around town I felt better and built my bike to head out on a ride to flush out the legs. On Friday morning, I went for a run with Bernardo- the event director who speaks english pretty well and is an ultra-distance runner. We got a little lost and ran longer than I normally would before a race, but oh well right! I was trying to look at the weekend as a great training trip anyway since I was doing two events back to back. After the run I set out to pre-ride the 35km bike course so I knew what I was in for. The “winter” weather was perfect; cool in the morning and evenings and high seventies during the day. I took in all the sights while pre-riding and took some photos knowing that while racing I wouldn’t see any of it! In the afternoon, one of my fellow Xterra pro friends, Will Kelsay finally arrived; he was supposed to be on my flight wednesday night but didn’t get his Visa in time and had to wait another day. It was good to have a friend there since nobody else spoke english and we got a chance to catch up over the pre-event pasta dinner. Saturday- duathlon race day: the event was 3k trail run, 35k mountain bike, 9k trail run. It was a mass start, men and women together. I lined up with the other pro women and let them take it out a bit faster, knowing that wasn’t my style and sure enough I caught them and was the first woman into transition with one competitor hot on my heels. I went hard on the bike from the start trying to open up a gap and rode with some guys for most of the way. I felt good coming into transition two and set out with a nice steady pace on the early flat section of the last leg of the race. I knew it was going to be a challenging run course with several very steep up and downhills. There was a male competitor just ahead of me who I caught up to just as the hills began and we ran together for the rest of the race. As we neared the finish line I was pretty sure that I was leading but when a volunteer held up one finger and excitedly shouted “Primera!! Primera!!!” I knew I had won and thoroughly enjoyed breaking the tape while making the Brazilian signature crossed arm X for Xterra!
The award ceremony was a lot of fun- the reporters treated Will (who finished 4th) and I like celebrities, something I’m certainly not used to!
Sunday morning- the mountain bike race: 32.5km. I knew most of the ladies in the race from the duathlon but there were two unknowns and I had heard that one was the Brazilian national champion. To be honest, I tried not to be intimidated but because she was a complete unknown I was a bit uneasy. There was some confusion at the start, not knowing that it was a neutral start until we got out of town (because everyone jumped off the line like the race was ON!) but I figured it out as soon as a convoy of cars and motor bikes jumped in front of us after a couple of blocks. We stopped at the edge of town and waited a few minutes then re-started. I found my competitor and knew I had to stay close to her from the start. It was a bit more chaotic than I am used to so my nerves were running on high but after a couple miles the field began to spread out and I just focused on staying with my competitor (it turns out her name was Erika…). The course was all on dirt roads, fire roads and some pavement. We rode the entire course together- it seemed to me like she was sitting on my wheel for most of it! She had a guy riding with her and they put in a few attacks attempting to drop me but every time I jumped on their wheel and made sure they knew I wouldn’t go down that easily. Sure enough with every attack they hammered for a little while, looked back and saw that I was still there and then sat up. So I just continued on at a nice high tempo and they dropped back and sat behind me again. We made a wrong turn somewhere along the way and had some confusion which was difficult to resolve since we couldn’t communicate in different languages but eventually got back on course and hammered along again. In the last 10k we passed 2 women who had obviously passed us while we were off course so I got very nervous again not knowing if there were others ahead of us too. In the last couple hundred yards before the finish we had to navigate some sketchy terrain so I slowed down to make sure I made it through the sandy downhill corners and thats where she made her move and I made one mistake which let her open up a small gap to take the win. At first I was pretty upset because I felt cheated…I had done all of the work and she took all of the glory. But after a while I decided that bike racing traditionally involves strategy and hers was to keep me close, let me do all the work and then sprint for the win. Mine was just to ride hard, keep her close and see what happened as it played out, knowing that I was getting stronger for future more important races and in the end I was happy with the high intensity I was able to maintain two days in a row. And since she had fresh legs and I didn’t, I feel good that she wasn’t able to drop me on any of her attacks!
So it was a great trip- a win and a second place finish doesn’t give me much to complain about and I experienced a new culture…And with that, I returned home with a renewed gratitude for the luxuries that we have but take for granted here in the US and give thanks for this incredible lifestyle that I am lucky enough to enjoy!
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