I hadn't been to Winding Trails in CT in a few years. It was just how I'd remembered it: Fast. Why did we choose to race in CT and not go to Blue Mountain? Well, the discussion was had, and although Blue is a really good singlespeed course, Winding Trails is a drag race. There is not much opportunity to rest and you are on the gas the whole time. Winner. WT is fun on a singlespeed, but the gearies have the upper hand if they use their shifty bits wisely.  A "cleaning of the pipes" if you will the week before Cohutta.

I have to say how awesome it was to line up with ~20 women. That's not even including the Pro/Open Women. My start was a little chaotic because of (what seemed like) an innocuous sand pit at the start. Some banging of the bars and shoulders and we were on our way. After that it was just me remembering how to ride with gearies and not be on their ass when they downshift and give enough room so I can either get past them or back off and give myself enough room to power up the short climbs. There are many big ring opportunities at Winding Trails. I would catch gearies in the singletrack and as soon as we got to a flat I would hear "click, click, click" and they would motor past or away from me. Sonofabitch. I would try to hang on but eventually the elastic would snap. Catch in the singletrack and get dropped on the doubletrack. Rinse and repeat.

There were times when I caught myself in cruise control-endurance-mode and singing to myself and I had to snap myself out of it. The Run-DMC/Aerosmith version of "Walk this Way" was the tune of the day. Be glad you missed it. I'm sure it gave other riders a reason to get away from me. Go faster, Jocelyn. It won't kill you. It's only two hours. Focus. Do not sing. Stop giggling. XC should not be comfortable! If you can giggle and chat, you can go harder. Well, that's what my head said, but my legs said otherwise.

I ended up better than expected. I was 6th in the 35+ Old Lady Class. Now it's a few days of getting stuff tidied up at work and home so we can start the trip down to TN on Thursday. Cohutta bound...endless kitty litter climbs here I come!