What seems like a year ago (3 weeks back) I went down to Pando just North of Grand Rapids for some sweet twisty single track. It ended up being a very roadie like course since I was there last back in 2003 or 4 and as luck would have it one the best roadies in the state showed up too. I should say he is one the best in the countr
y after a pretty impressive finish at the U.S. Nats a few weeks back. Anyway, after I attempted a few attacks in the very limited single track he would always bring me back on the long flat sections and with my general lack of fitness at the moment I cracked with a lap to go and soloed in for a nice 2nd place!
The following weekend was the Cry Baby Classic! I was pumped for this because of the lump some of money to be had, but it also haunted my dreams knowing it was that very reason why all the notable studs of Michigan lined up next to me. It ended up being an incredible race with lots of attacks and lots going back and forth with fellow racers. By the end of the day my lack of training all summer showed as I cracked on the last lap losing $260 in thelast 3 miles. Yep that's right I went from 3rd to 6th and lost $260 doing so! Now cracking is never fun, but that one was one of the costliest bonks I've ever had. Mike Anderson took the big fat W for some fat cash and took down the roadie who got me last weekend, so thanks for that. Not all that surprising, but nice to see John Cowen"S" coming in on the last proper podium spot in 5th in the elite field. The Captain Todd Fridinger had a nice solid ride coming in 10th in the expert class that was combined last minute with the old dude class. Lets not be fooled here those guys are fast simply because of Old Man
Strength.... it is in fact a scientific term. Look it up.
With all the free beer flying around there, the fact that the Captain was staying at my place, and my general feeling of a lackluster performance we all had a little bit to much to drink and ended up at the casino for a great smoke filled evening.
Taking advantage of the free beer..... Thanks to Craig for the eye protection!
This last weekend Mike and I headed to Cincinnati for the UCI3 Cross Festival. That's right 3 staight days of CX racing at it's finest. From the get go I was planning on doing only 2 days of the festival and I'm pretty glad I made that choice because we got there with about enough time for us to get a lap on the course and start the race. Mike maned up and went for it leaving him with some very loaded legs and nasty lung butter forcing him to stop 2 laps in. The 90 degree temps where deadly and we where stuck with them for the whole weekend, plus the drought that the area has been in for weeks made for some very dusty racing to say the least. Day 2 brought the same nasty temps, but on a nice and twisty course bringing the speeds do
wn a little bit allowing me to fake my fitness. Mike and I ended the day with me coming in 29th and him in 30th. Not steller days by any means, but starting from the back row you have to take what you can get until you get some points rolling. The next day we started a day by getting kicked out of the hotel room because they wouldn't let us a have a late check for some reason, so we spent some time in Panera bread people watching before heading over to the Bass Pro Shop. Oh man that place is so freaken cool
complete with massive fish tanks, waterfalls, and rock climbing walls. Probably the best pre-race warm up I've had in a while. Unfortanalty we had to take off for another day of racing in the 90 degree heat. Neither of us were motivated about the global warming going on during cross season. The course was straight up roadie, which made my motivation head even further South, while Mike got pretty pumped. Well it showed as he moved up to around 11th or so before a last lap crash broke his shifter off ending his day. I started slow and ended even slower finishing 35th. At least I still passed a few people out there!
After the race we hopped in the car around 6:00 p.m. to head home from Cincinnati. The GPS gave us an e.t.a of 2:35 a.m. ouch!!! Mike did his best impression of Dale and got us home 2 hours and 12 minutes faster then the original e.t.a. Nice driving there! As if we didn't punish our bodies enough this weekend we did a 3 hour ride on Monday. Riding from P-town to the North Country Trail off from Chandler hill and back to town. Super fun fall riding!
This weekend we are all off the Peak 2 Peak mountain bike race at Crystal Mtn.
Thanks for reading,
Chad
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