I picked up this little gift in Cuyuna
The poison ivy continues to pop up in new places going on week two
Sara had another impressive showing at The Great Hawk Chase in Lester Park on Sunday. We rode the course three times last week and she was disappointed in her singletrack skills. She was able to put something together by race day, however, since she won the Pro/Expert Women's race and the Men's Comp race (by one second). Michelle Flanagan-Haag had an impressive ride and ended up second on the day. Sara is best in tough conditions so it is really quite impressive she was able to do so well on this course since it is pretty fast, flowy and smooth. She had nary a problem in the slippery sections even though she used her favorite Bontrager XR1 tires.
I on the other had had plenty of adversity. For the second race in a row I was on the ground at the start - this time 10 feet off the line. Thankfully nobody ran me over and was able to practice my passing skills starting off dead last. I redlined it and got into second place before the end of the first lap. I really wanted to ride with Brendan a little but there was no way I was going to catch him after my mishap. I was leading an old coaching buddy at CSS, Josh Tesch into the singletrack on lap two when I launched off a rock, ended up going over the bars and mashed my left thumb and right shoulder into a nasty pile of sharp rocks. It took me awhile to get going and a group of four went by while I was taking stock of my body and bike. The chase was on once again albeit much more slowly and painfully since I couldn't stand up and pedal or lift up on the bars because my shoulder wouldn't allow it. I somehow managed to ride back into third place until the start of the fourth and final lap. I came unglued early in the lap and had to soft pedal to the finish. I couldn't hold off Jake Richards and Kevin K. going down the ski trail finish and had to settle for seventh. I've never worked so hard and passed so many people to end up seventh....
Great job to Mick at the SKIHUT for putting together a terrific course and to COGGS for pulling off the second Minnesota Series event.
I will get to recover next weekend since I'm Sara's waterboy for the Ore2shore.
Dan Swanson's wedding was a hoot on Friday! Kiera loves playing with Stella (Doug and Ann's daughter) and having an excuse to eat a bunch of sugar. Two nights in a row of being up late has taken its toll on us though. I can't wait to get rid of this poison ivy so I can sleep again...
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