My Race

I really love the Mt. Morris race course. Pretty much the best course in the series. I didn't feel like racing, but I wanted to race on that course. There was no way I was doing it on the drop bars though. That course layout was still burned into my brain...every rock, root, and switchback ingrained in my memory and I didn't even want to attempt it on those bars. Sorry Tim, but it is a flat bar course. Since Gage has my Ultimates Rachael loaned me a set but I had to wait and try to switch the bike out until Saturday morning when we meet up. The race started at noon and I was still working on the setup at 11. Destiny was stuffing bagel sandwich bites into my mouth while I worked the tools. Rachael was harassing me about flipping the stem/bar (good thing too) and then John dialed the brakes in while I rushed over to register. 25 minutes to start time and I was finally warming up. I ignored Don about the Pro/Semi-Pro callups, didn't want one until I started racing well again. Lined up somewhere in the middle of 80 guys and waited for the go. Up the first climb I had to do some banging to protect my space and settled somewhere in the middle. Totally whiffed the first rock section before the parking lot. Totally went into and miraculously under the ribbon in the parking lot. Kept the first lap steady and just rolled a high tempo to get used to the flatbars again. Once the group was established I started thinking about moving onto the next one. For the first few laps I spent time moving up. I used a pretty big gear setup (for me) for this race, 36:21, and it was the perfect choice. Climbs were tough but not horrible, made the uphill switchbacks all but one lap and it was still good enough to cruise through the mowed fields. I rode the descents like crap all day trying to get used to the new bar setup but I kept it on the trail and upright for the most part. Stayed well hydrated and never suffered too badly. Actually I had a ton of fun out there. Enough technical rocks, turns, and jumps to play on in the midst of working. The traffic in the last couple of laps tapered down. Not too many more people close enough to chase but I did get a few in the final lap and only got passed by 3-4 people all day. That will be the last Wisconsin mountainbike race for me until late July. If it works out there is one at high elevation on the radar.