Our first mountain bike race, the Cholla Challenge in Hurricane, was also our first race as part of the Roosters team. We were able to sport our Roosters gear and do our best to make the team look good. I'm not much of a mountain biker so I was pretty nervous just thinking about the race. We watched the kids race and some of the other groups go before I started. I was in the Beginner Women's group. Those beginner chicks were tough. I got my butt kicked by a 45 year old woman and rolled in second. I realized that women who have given birth have some extra power that childless women don't have.
I was especially excited to see Chris let loose and tear up the competition. He raced the Men's Sport 35-39 category. Sport is the next step up from beginner so Chris had to do two laps where I did only one. Half way through the first lap Chris got a flat which took some time to fix and as all of the other racers rolled through the start/finish to start their second lap Chris had to pump up his tire. He made up some ground on the second lap but only enough to finish at the end of the pack.
A post race picture of Chris and Parker. It was also Parker's first mountain bike race and he did great. In the end Roosters was well represented and we all had a lot of fun. Even though at some points I felt like my heart as going to jump out of my chest which made me realize that I'm not in as good as I should have been. I guess that going mountain biking once prior to the race doesn't amount to much.
We ran into Josh, Stacey and Sadie Carter. It was fun to hang with Stacey while the guys raced. Josh held strong and finished 3rd in the the Expert 25-29 group. That is some tough competition.
The next day we took a leisurely ride through St. George before heading home. Snow Canyon is always beautiful.
