Freewheel Frolic

The first MNMBS series race is in the books and lets just say that it was an interesting day. The entire week leading into the race the forecast called for a nice sunny weekend. The day decided to turn out less than spectacular and the weather forecasters (all of them) simply "blew it". On the way to Harmon park the sky looked a little strange and there was a feeling that something might get started, but since I put my trust in others I didn't think much of it.

We had to make a quick stop on the way to pick up Taylor at a sleepover. It took us a little while to figure out the somewhat incomplete directions that google maps provided and we were running a little behind. Parking spaces were limited at the elementary school, so I dropped off all our stuff and parked a ways down the road. Andrea and I have registration down and all six of us were ready to go in less than 10 minutes. After placing number plates on Devon and Wyatt's bikes they had a few minutes to get lined up. They both had very good starts and were all smiles as they came through on the prologue lap. They would not be seen again until the end of the race. Devon came in a few minutes ahead of Wyatt with a finishing time of 18:43 8th place overall and 3rd in his age group. Despite the fact that his bike weighs over 35lbs he pushed a very strong pace and gets stronger each time out. Wyatt finished at 20:44 19th overall and 2nd in his age group. Each year the kids comp race gets larger and larger this year there were 41 racers. This is the future of the the sport.

Taylor lined up and was off at 9:30 in the Citizen race. As she came through going into her second and final lap she was in a zone and didn't seem to hear us cheering her on. In comparison the Citizen race would be a long one with two full laps. Taylor would be on the course for over an hour with a finishing time of 1:03:06. She was happy that she was not the last to finish and came in just behind Steve Weisbrod (Grey Squirrel).

As the sport start time approached they announced that some severe weather was moving into the area. The decision was made to postpone the start of the race for fear of lightning. As the front came through and the rain came down, the start got pushed from 11:30 to 11:45 then 12:00. The sky finally cleared and the rain stopped and just as the last drops fell the race was started at 12:45. Both Jordan and Andrea were bummed with the rain and concerned that it would be a mess on the course, in fact Jordan bailed on the race. I was a little frustrated that she was not even going to give it a try. Andrea lined up with the other sport ladies at the back of all the heats. She didn't have the best good start and found herself near the back of the pack do to a shortened prologue. As I went back to the find out what the kids were up to I see Andrea walking her bike back to the officials tent. She said that the course was an absolute mess and went down three time in the first short section of single track. I am sure it was after 140+ sport riders were sent out only minutes after the rain stopped.

By the start of the Expert/Comp race the course had dried up nicely and was only slick in a few spots. After the call ups I positioned myself near the center of the pack. At the start I was able to hold my own and managed to enter the single track in the top 20. I worked hard on the first lap to pass a few riders that went out too hard and faded and established a nice pace with a small group of riders. I was passed by a few riders part way through the race that started in the wave behind me. For the first time in a long time I felt like I was racing again and was able to keep up a respectable race pace for the duration. I pushed strong on the last half of the lap, but was unable to catch the riders in front of me and fined a respectable 13th overall and 3rd in my age group.

Next race Afton:

I have never seemed to do well at this race, but I will give it my all and see what happens. Training has been a little slow early this year as I have been more concerned with staying healthy than pushing to hard.