This past weekend a whole crew of us from Bend went down to Ashland to race at the Spring Thaw Downhill race. We were all excited to leave behind the still snow covered trails here in Bend in exchange for some dark, loamy, tacky, elevated dirt in the Siskiyou mountains.The dirt and the trails were better than we had imagined it to be, and we rode all day Saturday, hooting and hollering down the trails.There was a huge turnout on Sunday, almost 200 racers in total, and the vibe was great. The barbeque was going, the spectators were lining the top rock garden, cheering on their mates, and the sun was shining! What more can you ask for at a race weekend? A podium perhaps…With 8 girls in the Pro women’s class, which is a huge turnout at such a small event, I knew I was going to have to pedal my butt off, because I needed the $150 to pay Stu for Gas, hotel and entry! I had a great race run, tried to pedal everywhere and remembered to breath every once in a while. I ended up in first place with a 4:59 – 15 seconds ahead of second place. I was very stoked and I got to pay back Stu with my winnings.