the big one
man oh man, what a great weekend of racing, hanging with friends/family and being away from work. speaking of work, as usual the wheels fell off here again while i was away for 2 days because my clients suck. but before i face reality....
after driving to eau claire thursday night (and calvin not sleeping well), we were up and at 'em on friday after all sleeping in a little. went out and got some pancakes and set up the little man for the weekend. then it was off to chequamegon land. robin and i met up with our good friend chuck in hayward for a bit and then on to telemark for some pre-riding and bib pick up. visited the fuel gang and then back to hay town for dinner and rest before the big day.
the alarm came quick (4:50 am) but it was worth as i had sixth row position in the start staging area. back in bed by 5:10 am which makes staying in hayward so worth it. robin dropped me off at 8:15 and she went off to slay the short and fat. i spent my free time in the coffee shop topping of my caffeine levels. it seemed like forever until the start time arrived but the last 20 minutes were frantic as ever. as a waited for the cannon i felt pretty good and was excited to get going.
this was the best start i've ever had. i was aggressive right away shooting every gap i could see and by the time the quad pulled off i was in the lead group (i could see all the heavy hitters and i just tried to tuck in and find mike). entering rosie's field there were a few folks with mechanicals that slowed me down enough to lose the sharp end. i just tried to get into and bridge any time a gap formed between my group and the group ahead of us. it was working well except for two issues:
1) i lost my water bottle in the first 10 miles.
2) my saddle bag came loose so i had to stop and remove it, eventually jettisoning it. #2 on my list cost me a very good group and ultimately may have cost me several minutes (we were working well together).
through OO in sub 1 hour (nice). got into another group that worked well together and held together until firetower when i dropped them all. a few guys worked their way back up to me and we worked together until the birkie rollers when i dropped them again. by now, i was feeling my rigid fork and it was definitely slowing me down. i was also starting to feel dehydrated/depleted (i didn't take any gels because i didn't have anything to wash them down with) but i forged ahead. i lost a few spots in the last 5 miles but finished strong. sub 2:30 (second best time for me) and a top 125 finish gave me a giant grin (once the pain subsided).
this experience re-invigorated my infatuation with this race and now i think robin caught it too. we are already talking about next year! the rest of the weekend was spent with friends - that is what is so cool about fat tire. no matter what happens we all have a war story or two and everyone is happy (after a few beers). worth the price of admission for sure.
it was nice to have 4 days off. but now reality of being back stings even more. yuck.
the ride in this morning was brutal. the traffic was bad and some lady yelled at me for being on the road. i didn't give her the gesture back i wanted too (she had kids in the car) but i did catch up to her at a stop sign and stopped next to her and stared her down. interestingly, she had nothing more to say and i think she locked the doors. funny how these a-holes are happy to honk and yell and gesture when they think they are just going to drive away from you without any recourse.
happy tuesday.
after driving to eau claire thursday night (and calvin not sleeping well), we were up and at 'em on friday after all sleeping in a little. went out and got some pancakes and set up the little man for the weekend. then it was off to chequamegon land. robin and i met up with our good friend chuck in hayward for a bit and then on to telemark for some pre-riding and bib pick up. visited the fuel gang and then back to hay town for dinner and rest before the big day.
the alarm came quick (4:50 am) but it was worth as i had sixth row position in the start staging area. back in bed by 5:10 am which makes staying in hayward so worth it. robin dropped me off at 8:15 and she went off to slay the short and fat. i spent my free time in the coffee shop topping of my caffeine levels. it seemed like forever until the start time arrived but the last 20 minutes were frantic as ever. as a waited for the cannon i felt pretty good and was excited to get going.
this was the best start i've ever had. i was aggressive right away shooting every gap i could see and by the time the quad pulled off i was in the lead group (i could see all the heavy hitters and i just tried to tuck in and find mike). entering rosie's field there were a few folks with mechanicals that slowed me down enough to lose the sharp end. i just tried to get into and bridge any time a gap formed between my group and the group ahead of us. it was working well except for two issues:
1) i lost my water bottle in the first 10 miles.
2) my saddle bag came loose so i had to stop and remove it, eventually jettisoning it. #2 on my list cost me a very good group and ultimately may have cost me several minutes (we were working well together).
through OO in sub 1 hour (nice). got into another group that worked well together and held together until firetower when i dropped them all. a few guys worked their way back up to me and we worked together until the birkie rollers when i dropped them again. by now, i was feeling my rigid fork and it was definitely slowing me down. i was also starting to feel dehydrated/depleted (i didn't take any gels because i didn't have anything to wash them down with) but i forged ahead. i lost a few spots in the last 5 miles but finished strong. sub 2:30 (second best time for me) and a top 125 finish gave me a giant grin (once the pain subsided).
this experience re-invigorated my infatuation with this race and now i think robin caught it too. we are already talking about next year! the rest of the weekend was spent with friends - that is what is so cool about fat tire. no matter what happens we all have a war story or two and everyone is happy (after a few beers). worth the price of admission for sure.
it was nice to have 4 days off. but now reality of being back stings even more. yuck.
the ride in this morning was brutal. the traffic was bad and some lady yelled at me for being on the road. i didn't give her the gesture back i wanted too (she had kids in the car) but i did catch up to her at a stop sign and stopped next to her and stared her down. interestingly, she had nothing more to say and i think she locked the doors. funny how these a-holes are happy to honk and yell and gesture when they think they are just going to drive away from you without any recourse.
happy tuesday.
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