Recently on Cyclingnews.com |
 Bayern Rundfahrt Photo ©: Schaaf |
 |
The Jimena Florit Diary
The 2002 NORBA series champion is one of the most widely-liked riders on the mountain bike circuit with a positive attitude as big as her racing talent.
As well as a repeat of her 2002 series victory, Jimena's 2003 goals include working toward qualification for the 2004 Athens Olympics where she hopes to ride as a US citizen.
Fresh powder day
NORBA Series #4, Mt. Schweizer, ID, July 26-27, 2003
 |
I got to Sandpoint, Idaho early. I was planning to come earlier anyway, so I avoided the extra day of traveling and I headed to Schweitzer straight from Vancouver, after the World Cup in Grouse.
I got there and I settled down on this cute studio until my teammates arrived a week later. I was a happy camper.
I had plenty of things to do during the week. Besides having fun riding my Ti-Revolver, I also had more serious things such as a radio station interview, a local newspaper interview, meeting several people for the fund-raising ride for a hospice that we had planned for the next week, and so on. It's all part of being a professional athlete and taking on the responsibility of representing my RLX-Ralph Lauren team and the sport of mountain biking, which I love to do.
I made many nice new friends who invited me to join them to watch the Tour on OLN. Of course I did not pass.
I was alerted by the locals to be careful of the bears and moose. I am not that comfortable with the idea of riding alone in bear country, having never encountered one of these beasts on the wild, I was very nervous.
"Sing. Sing very loud," suggested a local woman who had noticed how nervous I was.
Here I come, down the trails, singing along, any song I could remember. When I forgot the lyrics, I would start over. Eventually I needed to catch my breath since after all, I was training on my bike, so I would take a short break from my musical therapy.
Back to the songs, I came by a group of people on horses, who were wondering who this crazy chick was. I did not stop singing, that would have been silly, so I just squeezed a "Hello!" in between. The next day, I was out there with my bear bell and bear pepper spray, hoping not that have to pull it out of my pocket.
The course was a 10-mile loop, not seriously technical, but not too many soft landing options.
'Dust' was the word in everyone's mouth.
"Dirt Report: Fresh Power day." Contrary to what it means for our skiing friends, for us mountain bikers, "powder day" means trouble.
Imagine getting to a trail, and suddenly someone turns the lights off, so you lose all sense of direction. That was the picture for each rider from second to last position. I am not exaggerating. The only person comfortable was the leader.
Of course, this is not a complaint, this is mountain biking and part of the sport is dealing with the elements.
Lucky me, I had made a great tire choice with the Panaracer Fire Pro 2.1, which game me the right support and control in the front, and traction in the back.
The start was nothing terribly fast, but even so, I was nowhere near the front, approaching the trail in about tenth to fifteenth position. It wasn't easy to move up due to the lack of visibility so I decided to stay calm, and wait until the open areas where the dust wasn't that bad. I finished the first lap somewhere about ninth or tenth place, and lost about two minutes to the leader Chrissy Redden.
She took the chance and it paid off. Chrissy was somewhat forced to take the lead since no one else would, but she did not know if she would pay the price later in the race.
Starting the second (and last) lap, Chrissy had two minutes on me and there were seven women between her and me. I was in serious chasing mode and I was looking only forward. I could see at least five riders ahead of me on the open climb and put the hammer down.
During a fast downhill section, I got stung by a bee in my forehead, but soon the burning sensation was diluted by the gallons of adrenaline in my body. That was not a happy bee. I think the collision with my forehead killed it before it realized it was going to die anyway... I took a moment of silence for the bee.
I passed the second feed zone almost at the top of the climb and I was breathing HARD. Took a flat coke (thanks Alex and Ben) and continued the chase.
I moved up to fourth place and realised I had Shonny-Van in sight, who was closing in on Alison Sydor.
Okay, I had a podium place locked in, now keep going. Kids on the side of the course were talking about weird things... I could hear a conversation referring to me as the "George Foreman Grill Girl"... Yep, that's me, I've got a fancy pink one, to cook my steak at the races.
In just about the last woods section, I got around Shonny-Van opening a small but big-enough gap, and caught Alison who was just about starting the last climb to the finish area. I gave every ounce I had left, and never looked back. By the time I crossed the line, I was in second place and had closed the gap to Chrissy down to 40 seconds.
Shonny also was able to pass Alison and finished third, possibly earning a National Team spot for world's. Congratulations Shonny! Dara Marks came in on fifth closing the door of the podium, her first cross-country podium, though she'd podiumed before in the short-track cross-country.
My teammate Willow was not having the best ride, but still finished strongly in eleventh. Not bad for an "off day".
Next day, was the short-track where my teammate JHK bagged his second STXC win for the season, increasing his lead in the series. No other American has been in the lead for the overall title for several years! This is huge!
After my race I went back to the kids on the side of the road. There was JHK, warming up for his short track, when a kid comes out of the woods, looks at him and says: "You are gonna win today." Spooky! He was right, and I am glad, but those things scare me mannn!
I am now at home getting ready to go for the gold medal at the PanAm Games in the Dominican Republic, representing the "Blue & White", Argentina. JHK is also coming to represent the US.
Stay tuned for those reports!
Happy hugs,
Jimena