Sea Otter XC

Heat exhaustion? But I was preparing for heat, heat was going to be my friend! Somehow I ended up at the hospital and received 3 liters if IV fluids. See cyclingnews note. OK so it was hot, hotter than expected. 93 degrees was one reading, I swear it was even hotter than that. Standing at the starting line on the black pavement was hot, at the start line they cut our race in half (one lap instead of two). About 10 minutes into the race I saw Wendy Simms pull over and throw up. I started the race with a small drink mix and 30 minutes into the race took a large drink mix and a water at the feedzone. My skin was so hot I poured the water all over myself, 30 minutes later I finished off my drink mix, sometime in the next 10 minutes I quit sweating and what leg power I had disappeared. I remember really, really wanting to crawl into a little bush and take a nap in the little bit of shade it provided. Apparently someone behind me did just that and Joy D stopped to help, like the incredible person she is. It was my mistake in not getting enough to drink in the feedzone and I suffered for it, dropping ~10 positions and landing in the ER, lesson learned. The only frustrating thing was watching other racers take handups at the start of the last climb out, the rules say you are not allowed handups anywhere else on the course but due to the extreme heat not all racers stuck to the rules. Can't really say I blame them... The best perks of being a pro cyclist is meeting great people! I am VERY grateful to our friends Brian and Bri, Nick and Cass and Chris Magerl (Kenda team Mechanic) for all the help when I was a little out of it! Todd really appreciated the help, I was a little less aware at the time. But I heard what everyone did for us last night as Bri cooked us dinner (twice, their BBQ cooks quickly). Thank you so much! Today I slept for 12 hours and am still sluggish with a headache and don't feel like eating much, but my legs feel good and that's what is important, right? Check out Kathy's description of the race/heat. Way to race Kathy!