Mountain Bike Racing

It all started one night at a friend’s house. We were talking at dinner and his parents said there was a mountain biking team in Norwich. So I said that I wanted to try it. So I talked to my parents and they said that I could do it. We went to Woodstock and they bought me a bike. And then I went to my first practice.  There were quite a few people there who I knew, so I didn't feel so bad anymore. We got ride wasn’t as long as rocky, and muddy as I thought it would be. It also felt very short. We did a couple of starts to know what the start of a race felt like. It was really crowded and challenging! Then I went on a ride with people who are at our skill level for one. Hour then we came back to the parking lot and were picked up by our parents.    We had our first race in Richmond after a couple of practices. There were about 30 people racing in my age division. The divisions are 5&6, and 7&8 , 9&10 , JV, and varsity. For my first race, I was very tense and sweaty, I was also very nervous. We were lined up and the starter counted down,” 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Go! We were off. I was in the middle of everybody, the race is a 6k we do two laps. There was a really fun cliff drop and a lot of roots. My  throat was really dry after the race because there wasn't much time to drink. But I passed quite a few people. The race was over really fast and I got ninth place. So I thought that that wasn't really that bad. Especially not for my first race.