WEll, since the last post, we've raced at Red Wing, Buck Hill, Lester Park, went on vacation in Cable, WI for a handful of days with the Raymond family, swapped out our 170mm cranks for 175mm and I've managed to crash HARD twice in just under a two week span.
Sara has won the last five races she's done and she is starting to feel quite comfortable on the Specialized Epic. Sara's the State Cross-Country Champ after winning the Red Wing race. She followed up with wins at Buck and Lester Park. The 175mm crank arms make a huge difference and it is still a head scratcher as to why a measly 5mm can cause such a pronounced power outage... I am also loving the 29er even though it doesn't have an affinity for me yet.
I've broken my helmet twice thanks to big crashes. I tried bunny hoping a tree going uphill on an easy ride with Sara and ended up quite bloody from head to back on my right side. I followed this crash up with a catastrophic mistake at the Lester Race on Sunday when my giant antler bars (I love the extra leverage of wide bars but now will be cutting them down...) caught a tree in a tight open section (crossing the old tubing hill) and almost ended my day 10 minutes in. I was able to work my way back into second place but then came completely unhinged at the start of the last lap and wobbled my in, losing too many places to count. Bruised ribs, cut up left forearm, sore back and shoulder along with my fancy Specialized helmet smashed up in three places thanks to my error in judgement. There is nothing worse than feeling like the legs are good enough to give a push in a hometown race and end up having nothing to show for it except a bunch of bumps and bruises. My crash has forced me to take some time off the bike. Probably a good thing since I'm prone to ugly crashes lately...
Sara's looking forward to Ore to Shore and possibly the Afton Race. She is intrigued to see how the 29er rides at Ore2Shore since she's never had the pleasure of racing the big wheels in the sand yet. I'm looking forward to handing her water bottles and playing with Kiera since the O2S isn't my thing.
This weekend I'm going to get certified to become a NICA mtb coach so a Duluth High School League MTB team can hopefully get established. There are plenty of young riders itching to race but nobody is certified to coach from around here yet.
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