This coming weekend is a big weekend on the cycling front. At least on the front of cycling I like. Chequamegon is taking place saturday. Its basically 40 miles of the fastest mtb racing action possible as it will be over in about 2 hours. The course leaves a little to be desired from my perspective as it is basically 40 miles of doubletrack. If you aren't lucky enough to have gotten through the lottery for Cheq Fat Tire, then the next option would be flying to Bend, Oregon for the USA Marathon Nationals. Im sure there is a ton of great singletrack to be ridden in that race. I saw Adam Craig is building up an AnthemX 29 so the trails must be pretty respectable. On a side note, I did put my blown up fork back together with new seals so hopefully it lasts for 40 miles, Im too wimpy to ride rigid I guess. The third bike racing option is Cross Vegas. I dont really like cross racing but this is definitely the cross race to be at. Tons of Euro crossers and most of the best of the US (who arent in Wisc or oregon).
So I raced last weekend in Ark City at the Tour De Lizard. Got up really early and drove down and parked right next to the Great Bend Crew. Did a little preriding and found the course to be pretty techinical with some serious drops. Ill definitely be back next year with some more preriding time. They lined up the race by age groups with staggard starts, which I was a little hesitant about starting in the second group but the official put me in my place. It took about half a lap to ride up to the first group and then I had to work through them. One 918xc guy had already checked out though and at the end of first lap he had 45 seconds on me still. Then things started to unravel a bit. First the rear lockout quit working completely, not that big of a deal but I use it constantly. Shortly after that I got to the top of one of the many steep and slightly longish climbs and found that my rear derailleur didnt feel like shifting back to a harder gear. So the rest of the race I had to stop at the top of climbs and move it back by hand to where I wanted it and then it would work fine until I would have to shift to about the 3 easiest cogs, and it would be stuck again. Lap two ended and I was 2 minutes behind the 29 under leader, ouch. So lap 3 fires off and I quickly find that the annoying squeaking brakes that have been happening all race has now become not much rear brake at all. 2/3rds the way through the lap Im still at about 2 minutes when I decide maybe I should pick it up a bit and finished 1:30 behind. Top Fuel seems to need some TLC before RIM.
Oh, and I won the overall for the United In Dirt Series. Im hoping this means thousands of dollars and huge endorsement deals are on the way.
Happy Birthday week to the No. 1 Pit Crew as well. I hoping the new garden wont get in the way of bottle handoff practice and after race massages.
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