Up, coffee, feed, gather, race, rinse, repeat

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Cherries

That was the subject line of an e-mail from my husband, Lee. HMMM, wonder what that is about. Well it turns out that the cherry trees on our property are booming with lovely yummy cherries. I miss home.

Hump day is over, and I am excited about the last few days of this race. It has been a tough one. I know that I am a strong rider, but it is hard to accept that I am elite enough to be where I am right now. I truly have to fight back thoughts of not belonging and only being lucky. Some of the other ladies have some pretty impressive backgrounds that give them a fighting edge. I hope to be aggressive and competitive enough to pull this through.

However, I bet no other rider got a phone call and an e-mail from their 12-year-old son to discuss the pros and cons joining band or chorus next year in school. He is not feeling it and this Mom believes it to be important. Recently he has gotten the mountain bike bug and is all about it. It could be easy to let riding and competing take over your life. I like balance.

Yesterday's stage took some fight out of all of us. It was supposed to be a little lighter, but it took a lot of energy. People are tired and sore. It was also a lot of mud to deal with. Sorry bike and mechanics.

The routine of stage racing is taking over and draining as well. Up, coffee, feed, gather, sign in, race your heart out, rinse, repeat. It's the rinsing and repeating that is the toughest. Although we here at the CF compound have some luxuries there are some that are missing like a laundry. Should have spent that extra dime on the service. Fortunately the sting of the race is soothed with the summer camp atmosphere and attitude of all involved. Especially that Ray Adams character, all you have to do is look at his shirt and your reminded that this is vacation. The venues always offer a lake or pond to cool the stress of the race and tell war stories with your comrades. It truly is a summer camp for mountain bikers. Definitely worth the week off of work.

I again have to give kudos to our mechanics. They have been dealing with a lot of bikes. There has been broken wheels, broken bikes, tires to change and everything else thrown in between. While I'm tucked in for the night they are still working. They always wake up with a smile and never complain of their chores. We are very lucky to have Shane and Matt taking care of us.

Well today I broke the curse and took the stage win and added five minutes on my overall GC lead. I hooted and hollered when I crossed the line. Thankfully Zach Adams was there to share in my short lived glory. Oh and our sweet Kaitlyn again finished a stage. Truly inspirational.