-Spirit Mt: From My Perspective-

Finally, after spending a week in Hayward, Wi, with little to worry about other than bike riding and relaxing, I finally had a race that I was happy with. The new Fuel frame worked flawlessly, flowing through the singletrack like a fish through water. I felt in control the entire race.



Going into the last lap, I was comfortable riding with a group that included Fisher, Paul Hanson, Scotty KJ and JR. I really wanted to poke my nose into the singletrack first before the long downhill section. The 4 others were riding the singletrack pretty smooth, but I think I could have opened things up a bit if I had a chance at the front. Jay, Paul and Fisher punched it pretty hard going up the climb below and I was able to hang on, but not get up front. In the process, we dropped Scotty a little bit. After about 5 minutes in the singletrack, he was back on again.



The train continued on to the bottom of the mountain, which is where the real racing began. Jay was starting to twist the throttle a bit up front and everyone seemed to be hanging with the quicker pace. Coming out of the ravine, down by the waterfall, I dropped my chain and had to let Scotty by. I pulled over, got it back on and stepped on it. I did not want to let everyone go without a fight. It took me about a minute, but I was able to get by Scotty and latch back on to the train of Fisher, Paul and Jay. Chris turned around and gave me the thumbs up for catching back on, but I couldn't respond as I was starting to enter the "red zone." I finally settled into the pace that Jay was laying down. Somewhere on one of the rocky sections of the long singletrack climb, Fisher crashed and I think actually went OTB. I was able to get around. I followed right behind Jay and Paul until the climb opened up onto the grassy meadow near the top of the climb that was basically a false flat. Fisher had been hammering to catch back and caught all of us on that section. I let him go by me, as I had a large mushroom cloud starting to form right above my head. I had officially EXPLODED right at the top of the climb. Bummer!! I would have loved to sprint for 4th with those guys. Close but no cigar.



Apparently the sprint finish ended with 2 of the 3 guys crashing into the tape at the finish line. The time recorder at the finish line was distracted with all of the comotion, and didn't even see me come in!! According to my watch, I finished in 2:11:12, 24 seconds behind the sprint finish. I never bothered to check the result after the race, and it never was fixed. Scotty had to inform the race director that I had beat him and handed over his prize money. Thanks for that Scott! The MNSCS guys just assumed that my time was 2 seconds in front of Scott, so they gave me a 2:13. Oh well. I wonder why we didn't use the magnetic ankle chips at this race????

Yup, I'm still alive. Not sure who, if anyone is even looking at this thing any more. Since the "birdman" JR linked me up to his blog, I figured I had better update mine, in case anyone stumbles upon it. First off, I want to give props to Heath Weisbrod for breaking the elusive 9 hour mark in the Leadville 100!! Nice job Heath: 8 hours 58 minutes. You should wear your big gold belt buckle to the next race.

I have had quite a summer of bike riding and racing since my last post. First things first: I basically went without an XC bike for almost 2 MONTHS!!!! Thanks again Trek, for ensuring that I have the tools and resources to be a successful bike racer. My Trek Fuel Frame cracked and FAILED at the point where the main pivot is bonded to the surrounding carbon fiber. I submitted a warranty claim the day after I returned home from the Mont Du Lac race. After 2 weeks of patiently waiting, I was notified that my bike was being painted that week. Another 2 weeks went by with no bike. Finally, I received a call the 5th week after initially submitting my claim that my bike was finally in. It's too bad that after all that waiting, they decided to send me a size LARGE frame. I had to wait another few weeks for the frame to be picked up, a new one ordered and finally, last week, my frame came in. In total I missed 5 buck hill races and went without my bike for 3 MNSCS races. I borrowed bikes for 1 buck race, Bluff riders charge and Welch. Actually, at the Welch race, I used another broken Fuel frame (Eric Guse's) that had not yet failed. Not sure if I'll ride Treks anymore after this year. Rant over, but I'm still pissed.

Since I didn't have an XC Mtb for the middle of the summer, I spent alot of time on the Road, which I think was actually to my benefit. I can tell now that my fitness level is definately better. I am hoping all the road training will show at the Chequamegon. I am really hoping for another top 20. It'll be tough as the local competition is really hot right now in both MN and WI.

Alot of people have seen me stumbling around at races on the sidelines, not racing. No, I havn't turned into a full fledged alchoholic. I crashed hard at the Muddy River DH race, slamming into a tree after just barely clearing a 12-15 foot gap on my pre-run. I ended up snapping my brake lever clean off the bike, denting the downtube of the frame with my left knee, spraining my wrist and tearing some of my right quadriceps muscle. I made the (stupid) decission to race the DH anyway after the crash. I replaced the brake lever with one from an XC bike and lined up. I really couldn't complete a full pedal stroke without a great deal of pain, so I basically pumped and coasted the entire way down. Somehow I was able to pull off a 3rd place. I camped out with JJ, Deet, Richzilla and Timmer on the bluff. We had a pretty good time hangin' out and shoting the sh!t. When I woke up the next morning I was in so much pain, racing the XC was totally out of the question. I had a difficult time walking for the first week after the crash. I had my wrist checked out and it wasn't broken, so that was good.