I "survived" the Dark Horse 40 race

This is a story from Katie Lamden about her 1st MTB Race (I should point out it was a 40 miler)

Nice Job Katie - Here is her story

I "survived" the Dark Horse 40 race at Stewart Forest this past Sunday. The course was 2 laps of a 20 mile loop of probably about 95% singletrack, in a mix of forest and open fields (mostly woods). Not very technical, but there were lots of places on the course (maybe 10 obstacles) where people would get off and run their bikes. Mostly short, steep little climbs with roots at an angle across the trail or something like that. The first 10 miles of the race were terrible - so many people in front and behind, and I was alternately annoyed at someone ahead of me for putting their foot down and screwing up the whole pack, and mortified for doing the same exact thing and causing people behind me to curse at me and then come by in a big rush, forcing me off the trail to wait for a break in the traffic to get back in. After the first 10 miles it spread out more and it was a lot less stressful. There were a few too-short sections of carriage road, where I always passed at least 4 or 5 people. I was a lot more fatigued on the second lap, of course, but it was more pleasant nonetheless because that whole scene of struggling to pass people or having them pass me was gone, and I mostly saw the same 6 or 7 friendly people and got to chat with them a bit. There was a girl just behind me in the same class (Sport) whom I had passed when she had a mechanical earlier in the second lap. So I knew she was a better rider and I'd have to really push to keep ahead of her...There was also a girl in the Sport class right in front of me who I thought I had a chance to catch. So I had some external motivation to counter my tiredness. With 5 miles to go I realized I still had some energy left and could afford to pour it out, so I really pushed the last few miles (the more rooty, twisty singletrack bits were making me dizzy in the last 2 miles and I'm actually amazed I didn't crash). It was a really exhausting experience! Like doing a 100 mile road race and being in a breakaway for 80 miles of it - I had that same sense of pushing at the limits of maintain-able strength the whole time. And I am so sore now I can't believe it. Back, arms, shoulders, wrists, THUMBS....yikes. But it was a lot of fun - including the beer and BBQ after the race.I ended up second in Sport, with the girl ahead of me finishing about 4 min in front, and the girl behind coming within 3 minutes of my time (4 h 36 min). Pretty close for such a long race! It was VERY humbling to note that the winning (expert class) woman's time was almost a full hour less than my time, and the winning guy did it in 2h 52m! Amazing. I have a long way to go to develop my skills (but thanks to all of you who have driven me to rides, given me great advice, and helped me gain the minimal ability I currently possess). I may just be hooked on a new sport, and take to haunting a section of bikereg I've never paid any attention to before...
DIRT! I WANT MORE DIRT!
Katie