First Race of 2013: Catfish Cup

Yesterday the first time I toed the line in 2013 at the Angry Catfish Bicycle and Coffee Bar's Catfish Cup at Carver Lake Park in Woodbury. After a mechanical issue before the start last weekend at the Lake Minnetonka Ice Race prevented a start, I was excited to strap on a number plate and see where my performance level is at! I am still on the SS for the time being as my Niner RDO build is still in the works – riding an SS this early in the year will certainly be good for building some summer season power! I also was running a tubeless set of old Schwalbe Racing Ralphs with my usual Kold Kutter studs setup that has done me VERY well in the past- traction was a non-issue.

At the mass start we headed down 200 yards of paved road before blasting across an icy parking lot that immediately bit a few folks with no studs on fat bikes. I avoided the carnage by going way outside the heard before funneling back into an icy downhill to the lake, and then back up the hill to the parking lot and the start of the singletrack. This uphill was tough…especially on the SS. I geared well for the course overall but my legs were lifting some weights on this climb, which racing in the advanced class meant having to do that three times total. The first lap was kind of a bust as I did not get any sort of a warm up in so I was stuck in traffic while the lead groups pulled away leaving a large gap to cross in order to get any sort of decent place at the end.

I pushed hard and made up a dozen spots or so at the end of lap one, but going up that hill after the lake starting the second lap reminded me that I would NOT be able to keep that pace much longer. The cranks turned slowwwly as I ground my way up the mushy snowy-to-icy climb to get moving towards the singletrack where I could catch my breath. From then on it was a ‘ride my own race’ type of pace. I eased up and tried to save some matches (and hydrate better) in the second lap which paid off. I did not really gain any ground…but didn’t lose any either in lap two. Lap three, I surprised myself by having enough power left to muscle my way up the climb from the lake without putting a foot down. The third lap my legs were really waking up despite the abuse I'd already put them through. In lap two and starting three, I kept notice of a chase group slowly catching up but once into the singletrack for the final time I was able to drop them. Then to my delight, I caught and passed two more racers before finally crossing the finish line at 1 hour and 39 minutes.

Definitely a good solid race…great way to start the year for sure. I don’t worry too much about "finishing place" in the winter since bike setup plays such a HUGE role in how you handle the snowy/icy/dirt/rock/paved trails. My main focus of the races is to get back into the swing of race prep and pacing and simply incorporating them as high intensity/effort workouts.

Next up: City of Lakes : Icecycle Loppet ice race…somewhere around Theodore Worth Park in Golden Valley??