For most of you its probably Monday, and you’re probably at work, and you’re clearly not working, so I don’t feel so guilty about the fact that I’m about to ramble.   There were three races this weekend and I just poured a beer so I should tell you about it. 

This mountain bike season has been a little frustrating, a lot issues with equipment meant a lot of frustration for me.  Given that, I really wanted to put in a few more quality mtn races while the season was still going.  I was all for this plan until the cross season started.  Riding trail is still my favorite, but race wise its tough to beat a cross event.  Anyhow, I got it in my head a while ago I wanted to try some endurance racing.  This started as a 6 hr solo, then changed to a 10 hour team, then I settled on a 6 hour duo event, which to be honest is not really an endurance event.  Jason was all for this plan so he and I decided to do the John Muir race this Saturday.  So now lets rewind to last weekend, I thought I had my Cat 2 upgrade settled.  USA Cycling thought otherwise for reasons which made no sense whatsoever to me.  No matter, I would race cross on Sunday get the necessary points and be done with it.  So this meant 3 hours of racing Saturday and me trying to get my points on Sunday, but I thought it was all good to go.  Fall weather is a fine time to ride, bike people are good times, so it all seemed like a good plan.  

Then the bikefest started...

Thursday the parts I ordered to fix the tires on the mtn bike came in so I went to meet Tom to pick them up after work.  Friday I got back from work late and stayed up far too long fixing the mtn bike.  Saturday AM Jason picked me up, we made our way to Wisconsin and got ready for this little event.  Neither of us had any idea what to expect, but Kettle is awesome, the weather was absolutely perfect and everyone was having a good time.  Jason agreed to start first since I was racing Sunday so I checked the time sheets from the longer races guesstimated the time and waited for him to come through.  Jason came in with a solid time, just a minute or so behind another 6 hour rider, which I mistakenly took for a duo team and so I took off to catch them.  Once I passed them the race was confusing for me, WORS races are all out and a big pack early on, you let off the gas and you get passed.  These endurance events is largely a solo mental effort so I had to keep reminding myself I was racing and trying to put some time on the other team so we could build a little cushion in case anything happened.  Turns out I built a 15 minute cushion on the next rider on my lap and since I’m not so sharp, failed to realize Jason had put 10 minutes on the next rider on his lap.  I’ll just FF here and tell you we did really well, Jason didn’t actually have to ride his last lap (which we figured out on the way home) but we forgot to go to the rider meeting so we didn’t know the rules.  Oh, and my personal goal was to get the fastest lap time which is a bit unfair since we had the shortest race on that course, but it was a way to push myself.  I thought 47 minutes was my goal based on the sheets so when I got 44 I thought I was good to go and was happy.  Turns out I can’t read and someone did 43:45 which Jason pointed out 10 minutes after our race.  Oh well.  Also the 2nd place team, they were vegans, so its really not a fair race now is it?  They don’t eat animal stuff, its crazy.  The race was really fun, but I think I want to try the 10 hour team or maybe, a solo endurance some day.

Next I ate culvers, because its good, then I get home and worked on the cross bike, its way too late again, I sleep wake up pummel some eggs, oatmeal and bacon that may or may not have extended its shelf life, but was delicious, and go to DeKalb for crossfest.  I arrived in (East Iowa) for the ChicagoCrossCup race just before the 10 AM race so I could check out the course. Lots of turns, long, and bumpy but with the rain looming seemed like it would be fun.  My legs were definitely sore, but I felt pretty good.  I just needed a point for the upgrade so I figured I could do it.  Not going to lie, I was a little annoyed I didn’t get the upgrade so I hoped to have a nasty little race, win, and get the cat 2, an ambitious plan given the competitioun.  After 3 hours of solid mt bike racing, I really had no idea how I would hold up.  I went out to warm up with Holly, did a quick tour of a DeKalb neighborhood, saw some nice homes , and got a little twitchy from my coffee, red bull, and caffeine infused gu.  Somehow I got a horrid start, caught in traffic and had to fight my way up.  I was trying so hard to bridge in the first lap I fumbled and accidentally rode off course, I turned back in and apologized to whoever I probably misled behind me.  I hate doing that and felt really bad.  Just after the beginning of lap 2 I bridged to the first couple riders, it was a little slick and I heard a crash behind me so I just dropped the hammer as soon as I heard that, the move stuck.  From that point I didn’t look back and just started to put time on the field.  I wanted to win with some authority so I kept a solid pace and was all sorts of happy with some fantastic sideline encouragement and good quality heckling.  With 2 to go I had a nice little lead and started to let up a bit since I was getting super tired from the weekend.  I won, I was happy, no argument possible on the upgrade now and I’m all sorts of happy, 2 races, 2 wins. 

So I get back to the car and realize I could perhaps race again.  I thought about it earlier and thought it was a bad idea given I raced Saturday, but why watch when you can ride?  So I sign up for race 2 of the day to play with the 1/2 riders.  Kevin asked me about a warm up, but it was raining so I decided my warm up would involve sitting in the car blasting the heat with some music.  Matt had raced earlier and rolled a tire so he was all about my warm up plan, joined the car heating plan and we sat until about 10 minutes before the race, at which point it was cold, crappy, and wet outside.  Not much time to kill so I added some arm and knee warmers and made my way to the line.  Now Id like to note I’ve heard 1/2 starts are aggressive, apparently by aggressive they mean half the field takes off before the whistle is blown.  This cracked me up since I got another crap start, but I did have an advantage of knowing the outside lines from the prior race and by the second lap was riding in 5th.  Kevin had gone down in front of me and was making his way towards me, it was only a matter of time.  I bridge to the 3 rider, Kevin bridge to me, and thats how we sat for a few laps.  Eventually, mr powerhouse, Kevin Klug found his groove and took off.  I tried, but I didn’t have the legs to stay with him.  With 2 to go I was fading big time, Luca from PonyShop and another rider were closing on me fast.  I had used my handling skills to hold them off earlier, but the course was getting faster and I was getting tired.  They passed and I had absolutely nothing to bridge.  In the last lap I thought I had 6th with room, but there was another attack.  With only a couple hundred yards I fought this one off.  During one straight we were side by side, rubbed elbows ducking into a corner and I just barely edged him out.  From there I just went after the line and barely held him off for 6th.  Best part of the last race were all the fans.  By that point most people saw me out in the race before and were really great about cheering for me in the second race.  All sorts of phenomenal cheering and heckling that helped me through the last few laps. It was incredibly helpful as I was pulling all I had for the last couple laps. 

1st, 1st, 6th and feeling good about it.  The good folks at half acre and north branch cyclery put on a great race so thanks to them.  They always help me out so I helped take down the course and made a fantastic ball of caution tape if I dont say so myself.

Ben had helped design the course and unfortunately got in a fight with his alternator on the way out so he and Julie missed the race.  They needed a ride home so I was going to pick them up, was too tired to make any sense of the highway and got off the wrong exit.  I ended up taking a tour of Sugar Grove which I have decided is a prettly little town. I then proceeded to go way to fast on a dirt road next to the highway, along some corn, and pretended I was a rally car driver (at one point almost getting the truck sideways) until I eventually found then at NTB.  Glad I could help them out, but felt bad they missed the race, good times turing the truck into a race car for a while in the fine town of sugar grove too.

And now Im far too freakin tired to write anything else.  I had a fantastic weekend, and had a great time with all the other racers/fans/supporters out there.  Now I need lots and lots of sleep.  Thank you much good people.