What a tough way to start my first CX race. Since I had signed up so early, I was called up to the front line. Definitely the last place I should have been. I was on the left, and by the time I got to the first left turn, I was totally pinned in, and my front tire caught the wheel of someone who had swerved in front of me. Down I went with a couple of other women, one of which dislocated her shoulder. Someone yelled to get on my bike, which I did, but quickly realized it needed some adjusting first. The hoods and seat were all askew.

Once I started riding I could tell my gears were messed up. Anytime I tried to move to my big chain ring, my chain tried to fall off. The rest of the gears were making a lot of noise. But I still managed to pass 5 woman. But 20 minutes into the race, my arm was really hurting. Some of the adrenaline had died down. Now I was feeling pain. But I kept pushing when I could, and was super cautious around anything I wasn't confident about.

I got 2 laps in. On the third lap I noticed people had stopped racing, but I never heard that the race was officially over. It was very confusing. This race was also extra tough because the women were racing with close to 100 cat 4/5 men.

20/25 Women cat 3/4
http://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?year=2014&id=3079&info_...