Crazy Momma shakin’ it Spokane Stylee

By Shannon “Crazy Momma” Holden

This was the first weekend for the INWCX races. Last year I did a few but really wasn’t in shape due to having a baby and training for a marathon. So this year I was hoping would be different.

We get to the race site where I see fellow Bella Erika Krumplman and about 8 other women and a couple of Juniors. It is not at all cross weather. It was sunny about 68 degrees, just a beautiful day. I am a little nervous because I tore up my calf a month ago and dismounting and high speeds just tears it up and it is sore from cross practice.

I head out to run the course which turns out to be the same course as 3 years ago, only no high speed dismounts. It is mostly grass with 2 huge run ups and a fun sandy section through a horse coral. I get on my bike to start warming up and am feeling a little intimidated because the girls that whooped on my last year were here and have been racing in Seattle for 4 weeks now.

I decide that I am going to go out with Allison(she won most of the races last year) and either sit in or hang on for dear life through the first couple laps. In the Inland NW everyone is out on the course at 1 time. So they stage the start and we all get to race for 55 minutes to 1 hour. Allison takes off hard at the start and so I just hung on to her rear wheel. We get to the first run up and I ran right past her, not in my plan but it will work. I get on my bike and a few seconds later she is sprinting by me, so I tuck in again.

We do this back and forth thing for a few laps. I was feeling pretty good so when we lapped back around for the 3rd lap and head into the smaller run up I decided to hammer at the top and drop her. So that is what I did. From there I just kept up the pace and extended my lead. With three laps to go I still felt pretty good and fresh, I decided to not kill myself for tomorrows race and just finish so I won by about 45 seconds. I was so excited I won the first race and it felt good.

This is where Alex (Team Director) needs to cover his ears/eyes for 2 seconds. So Saturday night I met some friends and went down to the wall to get some climbing in. A little nervous on how it would affect my race the next day, I just couldn’t help myself. Oddly enough I felt even better on Sunday. Maybe I need to climb before all my races… He He He

Sunday was a different story from Saturady as it had been raining all night and the high was only around 50…Cross weather. The course was much more technical with a very short run up and a longer run along a sandy beach, my kind of course. The short run up was after the start and just following it was a very technical section heading onto the beach. I decide the time had come to pull out the Simms Start( I personally named this after Wendy gave a “start clinic” at MTB training camp).

So I took off like a bat out of hell, got though the technical sections in front only to find one of the girls tailing me. I had raced with her in the past and she is notorious for drafting and never pulling. Feeling good I played with her for a few laps making her take the lead and pull, but somehow she kept getting behind me and drafting. So we get to the run on the beach knowing I can drop her I sprinted as hard as I could, hopped on my bike and started a short sprint to drop her. That was about 12 minutes into the race and I never saw her again.

With no idea where the other women were I started racing some of the men. Which was good because it kept me pushing. I was thrilled to ride to my second win in two days; this time with a 3 minute lead and feeling like there is more in my legs.

So that was my great weekend of racing. It is good to be getting back into cross shape!!