I didn't expect to have one this week, but yesterday around noon I got an email from Nebraska Cycling News about a race at Branched Oak Lake Park by Lincoln at 6:30! and only $5 entry! I left work at 5 and blasted down there with Bandit riding shotgun. I signed the entry form at 6:23...cutting it kinda close (had to drive slower than usual, there were way more county mounties out on the highway than I would like to have seen). Ran back to the car zipped the number plate to the bike and sprinted a 1/4 mile to the start line...not what I would call a spectacular warm up...but whatever it was a fun race and only 5 bucks! I rode towards the other riders waiting for me, and as soon as I turned my bike around (on the front row of course) I hear "Go!". Damn!
Now I expected this to be similar in length to a Buck Hill race...it was about 20 minutes longer. CAT 2 racers did three laps in this park area which was very beautiful...but absolutley the most horrible terrain for a full rigid bike, haha! It was insane! On some of the downhills I told myself to stop wimpering and just hold on and pin it! I tried but my arms were jackhammering hard for about 50% of the race (mainly the grassy double track like fields - it felt like they planted soft balls every 6 inches). Everytime I would try to swtich out of the big ring to the middle, my thumb would rattle fast enough to double click me to the small...every time!
Other than the wrong choice of bike, the course was actually kinda neat - different from what I'm used to, and some parts of the course through the woods would come out with some cool views of the lake. If I had a 3 or 4 inch full suspension bike I would have had a lot more fun. I'll come back...on a different setup ;)
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