What a muddy mess!! But it was one of the funnest races of the season. We sure have been spoiled this season with warm to hot sunshine and dry weather, so this was definitely a different type of race. We left early morning Saturday from home, which is all different than our family is used to. It was drizzling and somewhat cold. We arrived at a bigger crowd than we expected and we started to warm-up which was really difficult.Jordan race started at 9am. The race started with the course going around the parking lot before heading into the woods on the ski trail, by the time Jordan was half way around the parking lot she was in first place. Her course consisted of about a mile of double track ski trail and then a mile of single track. So just over 15 minutes after the race started Jordan crossed the finish line. It was a lot shorter than any of the other kids comp races. Jordan commented that she whizzed around the trees in the single track without even using her brakes. She placed 1st overall and placed 1st for the MNSCS series in the kids comp division girls 9-10.
Next year Jordan plans to race in the citizen class and is already looking forward to next years race season.
Next my race headed off at 9:30 am, I was cold at the start but by the end of the double track section I was warmed up and ready to race. I was having a little bit of trouble in the first section of single track but as I got my single track legs and stopped using my breaks so much I faired much better. The mud was not too much of an issue for the Citizen race. My bike and I did come back covered in mud, but it didn't affect my ride. I felt good and I felt I learned a lot during this race and during the 2006 season. I stayed around 5th in the wave I was in for the entire race. I finished 3rd for the women and 1st in my age group for the single track escape, and even after crashing in the 1st race and breaking my collar bone in the second race and then sitting out for 4 races I finished 1st in the last 4 races and landed 2nd place in the Citizen division Women 30-39.With a little reluctance I will be moving up to the sport class, mostly because Jordan is moving up to the Citizen class and I do not want her to pass me in any of the races.
Matt's race was a different story. His race started at 11:30am as usual, by then the rain had been pretty steady for over an hour. He was off and was about 10-12 people back around the parking lot, but he said by the time the singletrack started he was in about 7th place. He came around after the prologue looking strong and asking where the front runners were, I informed him that there were 6 people in front of him and they were all about 30-45 seconds ahead. He was slightly muddy at this point but not too bad. After lap 1 he was in a strong 2nd place, he was 1 minute behind the leader Ray Nickles and there was know one too close behind. After lap 2 the mud was caked on everything and the rain was not stopping. As we saw racers through the woods heading to the finish line I was ready to take pictures. Expecting Matt to be in second place I waited, then all of the sudden he zoomed through the woods first and I missed my picture. Matt finished first overall with a strong finish and almost unrecognizable. With the first place finish Matt landed 2nd place in the Sport Division Men 30-39 for the MNSCS series. Matt said the race went well and he was extremely happy with hoe the new bike worked, especially the disc brakes.Now he just wishes there were more races to race, he is not burned out and is already gearing up for next year, when he plans to race in the comp class.
The other kids race headed down the ski trail at a little after 1 pm and they all rode hard and fast. This was Wyatt's first race on a 2 wheel bike and he did great. Wyatt had his training wheels taken off on Labor Day up at Maple lag and within a few minutes he was riding on his own. I asked him which race he like the best and he said that St. Cloud was his best race.
