Cyclocross Season Opener

Yesterday I raced in St. Cloud for my first CX of the year. The day before I'd been up helping my Dad get the dock and boat lift out of the lake. My weak little cyclist arms were pretty spent after all that, but 'cross is only an hour, so who cares, right? I managed to get the holeshot and lead most of the first lap. Aric Hareland took over and we quickly rode away. I was feeling ok at this point and when he bobbled a little on one of the climbs I took off. I build up a solid lead and was just about to put it into cruise control when my rear tubular went flat. The day before I noticed one of my old carbon seatposts was cracked so I had no second bike for the race. I was lazy and didn't take the wheels off it to put them in the pit. For two season's I've been lugging around two bikes. I think I've had about 0 flat tires. Yet the one day I don't have it. Flat! Of course. I contemplated what to do next. Hareland had actually busted off his pedal so we were both out. I went back to my car and got my other wheel. It was a slow change. Finally I got back in the race. I took off as hard as I could. It didn't take long until I totally blew up. I was a lap down, so my motivation at this point was pretty low.

A little bad luck for the first one, but at least it was going well up to that point. I'll be at the Fall Color festival in WI on Saturday and Orono cross on Sunday. See you there.

Sunday Funday 69er

On Sunday I stole a 69er hardtail from Ken over at the Trek demo truck. The bike was just so nice and white and wacky looking. I had to ride it. The first thing I did is pound up to the top of Telemark on it, with no warmup and heavy legs from the 40. The bike climbed amazing. It just seemed to have an engine on the open gravel road. Then I hit some of the tight singletrack. I struggled a little in some of the tighter stuff. That big 29er wheel took some muscle to turn, but it's traction was amazing. I was pretty stoked on the bike so I rode it in my age class heat for the crit. Tristan ened up beating me by a half an inch, but the bike worked really well. I could only have been faster if I'd gotten the purple striped helmet cover. Maybe next year...

Cheqaumegon Post Race

By now you know that Jesse Lalonde killed it and took the win on his SS. I knew he was riding well but I wasn't sure a single speed could pull it off, the speeds are too high. But he proved me wrong in a classy win. Nice work! For me, I just didn't have it once again. My only excuse is that I wasn't good enough. I made all the moves, got through Rosies in the lead group, ect. ect, but when it came down to it I just couldn't hold the pace I needed to stay with the leaders. What else can I say? I could go really fast for about 10 minutes at a time, then I would blow and have to recover for a while. To be honest I haven't really felt all that fast since June. I've been toughing it out and hiding it when I can, but it has been a tough second half of the season for me.

Even though I did crappy, I had fun in that race. I love it. The course is so great, everyone is going for it, and then it's a big party at the finish. I managed to pull it together a little and keep the Cable Critirium title for another season.

Chequamegon Time!