Sunday, December 6, 2009
Reston Done, Onward to Bend!
Arley wrapped up the Mid-Atlantic cross season at the MAC Finals in Reston, VA on Sunday. As luck would have it, the Mid-Atlantic's first snowfall of the year occurred less than 24 hours before the race, which set the stage, once again, for a muddy sloppy day. The course featured all kinds of challenges; mud, ice, snow, rocks, roots...the makings of a very technical race. Line was everything. The course had several hard and fast sections that you could really crank up the gear and power, but that would send you screaming hot into a slick muddy turn. Not good. So there were few places to make up ground once ground was lost. Arley made some shifting mistakes right in the beginning of the race, giving Nikki Thiemann and Kristin Gavin of Human Zoom/PBR a few seconds of a gap, which was enough to hold Arley at 3rd the rest of the race. A crash on the last lap by Arley on the slick off-camber, fast descent would solidify the race for the the Human Zoom ladies, taking 1st and 2nd.
Next stop, 'cross nats in Bend, Oregon!
