one last race

Closed out 2008 with a final race, on December 31. The New Years Cross Race, now in it's second year, is a fun tradition to finish off the year. Definitely worth coming back to Toronto for, despite cold winds and snowy weather!

Due to some seriously delayed bags from my trip home, I was missing a critical element for riding - my pedals. I put out a call through the internet, and a good friend went above and beyond to help me out. After volunteering his spare pedals, and forgetting them day-of, he hustled to get me a set to borrow while I froze on the side of the course, manning the Cupcake Hand-Up at the top of a snowy run-up.

After the first race, I did a quick change, got some help pinning a number, yelled to a few guys to get the cupcakes going for the second race, and got to the line just as the race was starting. I started at the very back - partially due to arriving as the race was starting, but I also realized, as I rolled up, that I had forgotten to re-attach my front brake cable. Not the first time I've started a ride, only to realize this mistake! Because of the snow, though, traffic was slow, and it was easy to catch back on. There were only three women, but the race is just for fun, so I just wanted to avoid getting lapped by all of the boys, and have a good time. I wasted minimal time getting ahead of Ms. P and Korina, and then just focused on how I was riding different sections - picking a good line in corners, taking it easy on ice, and forcing myself to ride down the snowy downhill. The downhill had me a bit sketched out at the beginning, but it was actually pretty fun once I became more comfortable with it! I did get double-lapped by a few of the men, but finished 16 of 19 in the second race.

Post-race, we headed to a nearby pub, where an insane waitress served us very, very slowly. Caught up with people I probably won't see until racing starts up again in the spring, ate a decent burger and had a beer. One of my favorite races on the calendar - what's not to love about a low-key atmosphere, a great course, and fun people to hang out with?!?