Race Report: 2022 VSRTCX Women’s Cat C

Race: VSRTCX Women’s Cat C

Date: September 24, 2022

AVRT racers: Niky Taylor

Top Result: Niky 1/10ish

Course: This was a fun course, with lots of sharp turns, a few non-traditional barriers and some logs to ride over. It also featured a fire road climb, a rideable run-up, and a lot of weaving through Manzanita which resulted in a lot of ripped jerseys.

This was my second ever cyclocross race, so I signed up for cat C. The race started and it took me about 5 years to clip in. When I finally did I surged and managed to get into second position for my cat. Positions were pretty fixed through the first twisty section with no opportunities to pass. Then we hit the fire road climb which let me pass a lot of people, getting into first position for my cat. The rest of the lap was great until at the very end of it I dropped my chain. It took maybe 20-30 seconds to get it back on, and I completely lost track of the race. So when I finally got back on I ramped it up in case someone from my cat had passed me.

The next lap was faster. I got a gummy worm from a fishing pole. I got some air jumping one of the logs and there is a great photo and my face is terrible. Then the third lap was also fast but alas no gummy worm. Coming into the end of the third lap I was unsure if I was done or not, but since I’d only been riding for 33 minutes I figured I should go until I hit 40. So I rode another lap and it was pretty hard cause I was tired but it was fun. At the end I realized I was ahead the whole race and won the category by a decent amount, so figured I should sign up for cat B in the future.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/7861995399
Nutrition: Half a bottle of Nuun hydration mix, 2 clif bloks at the start, half a gummy worm during the race