Spa City 6 Hour

I always enjoy starting my season out with the Spa City 6hr which is located just outside of Hot Springs, Arkansas. The course is fast, fun, and flowy. This race always draws several pros, to include Tinker and Pua this year, along with many other fast racers. This year there were folks from 14 states!  I choose to do most of my spring races in Arkansas for this reason. I know it will be tough, if not impossible, to podium but, it gives me the chance to push myself with some faster racers and with a bigger women's field.

I chose to hang my singlespeed up for a bit and break out the 1x9 for this race. I really want to fine tune my riding with gears for some bigger races I'm doing this year such as, Syllamo 125K and Leadville.

The race started with the traditional lemans style run to our staged bikes. The race has a rule that you must keep racing for a minimum of 5 hours to avoid a DNF and no more than 6 1/2hrs. If you come across the line after 6 1/2hrs that lap won't count. Based on my results last year, I planned on 5 laps again and had my faster goal times taped to my bars.

I felt I set a good pace for my 1st lap. Had fun riding with Mia Phillips and Dwayne, from Arkansas, for the 1st couple of laps. I feel it's always hard to find your steady pace for the 1st race of the season. I tried to keep a close eye on my clock and taped times on the handlebar. So far, my pacing was working but, was also watching women getting a little faster. This is always nerve racking for me. Should I speed up? Will I have enough juice in the end to keep up the same pace? Will I be able to finish the 5 laps in 6 1/2 hours? I decided to maintain my same pace and focus on my own goals.

I started to get a little thrown off with my times since the distance seemed a little longer this year. I came in from my 4th lap with 1 hr 22 minutes to complete a 5th lap if I wanted to. Now, my previous laps were just under 1hr 18 minutes. Wow...this would be tight! I told the race directors I was going to take a shot at it. If I didn't make it I would look at it as extra training miles. I sure was hoping I wouldn't bonk or get a mechanical. I started slamming the rest of my liquids and food on my way out for the last lap and then, starting picking up the pace.

Half way through the last lap I really started getting nervous I wouldn't make it. I found a guy who was slightly faster on the downhills than me and made it my goal to hold his wheel. We quickly exchanged equal worries on completing the lap. I told him "let's pick it up a bit and bring us in!" We started flying and I made it in with 7 minutes to spare! Yeah! I managed to pull off 4th place but, missed the

podium. Bummer...so close! However, I look back at the results and I am pretty happy I met my goals which included consistent lap times.  Big congrats to Peat Henry and Steve Friedman on their 1st and 2nd place finishes respectively in the Singlespeed division. Other Missouri folks represented with some nice finishes also which include my husband, Todd, Beth Weimer, Ryan Meshke, Mia Phillips, and Mark Gullet.Next big one....Ouachita Challenge 60 miler!