Thursday noon comes and I take off to Burnesville hoping to get there around 5:30...I roll in around 6:05 which gave me just enough time to register, change, pedal once around the parking lot and line up. These races are so fun though- and this gives me an opportunity to try out some new strategies that TJ has talked to me about. My start was not great (having to unclip and stop 20 yards off the start line) so I sort of just let the race unfold easy. Most of the field was ahead of me going into the first singletrack, but remained calm, over the four lap race I passed maybe 20-30 others and felt great at the end. Good enough run to have some motivation for Saturday!
Heavy rains arrived on Friday and didnt quit until Saturday afternoon. the mud tires go on and after a decent warm-up I line up with an unusually small wave- I guess the rain kept a lot of people away!
The start was a mad sprint around a grassy off camber prologue to the muddy singletrack. Looking at the tire choices of others I was not worried about having to be at the front as I knew my setup was going to be very predictable once in the mud and could catch others- and I was not wrong. The first lap felt good and the bike was handling great- no sliding through the greasiness or spinning out on the short power climb.
Problems came though at the end of the first lap and into the second. Mud had caked the rear derailleur and cassette and I could not get it to stay in gear! It jumped every other pedal stroke....until about 1/3 way into the 2nd lap I found one gear that would work and hold...unfortunately it was the 28 tooth rear and 32 front- not the best choice for this course! but better than a dnf since I'm already here!
Needless to say I got passed back by a lot of people as I was spinning as fast as possible and definitely as long and fast as I've ever done in a race situation ha! Oh well, finished a little better than mid pack overall which is better than I expected. Good times. Looking forward to seeing the pictures that Dana Shoppe has for this one!
Mechanical trouble (i.e. no brakes) and general bike and equipment cleansing and adjustments kept me from being able to make the duathlon in Elk River. I was a little bummed about missing that but, training-wise...the efforts on Saturday were enough for a stellar workout.
I got to spend some time with great friends as well that I don't get to see very often now that I live in Omaha- always great to see them and take shots at each other about trail riding (or lack thereof for some), our "Acquire" championships (which by the way I'm now in the lead for 2011), and other general topics worth trash talking about ;)
Thanks to John Reinan, and Lisa and Klaus Schneegans for their excellent hospitality! Bandit, Ajax, and I really appreciate it!
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