Scott and I drove 20 minutes to the race start at Mont du Lac in Duluth for race #4 of the MNSCS series. The MN series races are the toughest races of a series. Really good climbing, technical singletrack. The race courses remind me some of the Norba's I did a few years ago. They are definitely races that will make someone a well-rounded racer. It was really hot, especially for Duluth standards. This was probably the second hottest day all year. Tough to acclimatize to all in one day for the locals, especially the expert men. It must have been around 90 degrees during the race by the time the race started at 1 pm. COGGS put on a great event. They sent us up to the top of the downhill from starting up the bottom and then looped us though to do the top half of the hill multiple times. The hill is steep in places - granny gear for some.

The women started with the men - which I like. It's good practice as it is pretty similar at Norba's racing with other pro women. The guy right in front of me broke his chain about three pedal strokes into the race. I was in pretty good position after the climb and into the singletrack. I got buggered up behind some men that didn't shift down enough to get up the steep ascent after a really bumpy and fast downhill. I had to run the next section until the flat. I caught back on and followed in the singletrack a group of guys that seemed to mostly have ski hut jerseys. It is really difficult to pass on the singletrack, so I had to wait a bit to pass. I got buy three or four guys and then finally caught up with Charlie and Todd, which I knew they must not be having a good day if I am passing them on an uphill. I tried to ride pretty steady each lap and the singletrack smooth.

Nicoli (Ski Hut) was right behind me going into my fourth lap up the long hill. At the end of last year he said to me, "Sara, my goal is to beat you". That is quite a compliment! I couldn't let him pass me without having to work really hard at it. I got into the singletrack ahead of him and could hear him back there from time to time for the first half of the lap, but didn't see him and had a nice gap before turning to finish. He still had another lap to go so who knows what would have happened had I had to do another lap. (Thankfully, the women do one less lap than the men). I drained an entire water bottle each lap - including what I poured on my head and my back.

Scott got 8th for the day. He rode the singletrack well, but the climb took it out of him. He just couldn't climb well. Maybe it was from all the brush-clearing back breaking work he did earlier this week to help a friend of ours out. He also drove the dr mower (not sure if that is the correct label) around the course the Tuesday night before the race to get the long grass mowed and the trail in race-ready shape. There were a quite a few volunteers helping out to build the new downhill to replace the really fast straight-shot downhill on the back of the course. The new downhill is full of turns, switchbacks, coupld bridges and even a little bit of uphill. Scott seems to think it adds on at least a minute to each lap. Each year the course gets better and better! Thanks to COGGS for hosting a great race and all the volunteers! There is talk of doing one big race that would be a huge loop from spirit mtn to mont du lac and back. It could be really epic, but most of all a spectacular race.