It is a MTB race. Up norther there eh? In the woods of Wisconsin, step aside my Johnson (Red Hot Chili Peppers).
Bike races are FAST! I am not FAST. I pretend, but in reality I am not. If the dog could talk, we would all know the truth. When did the dog become that smart anyway? Have you ever noticed that your dog always seems to know the truth? If you were to make up a story about why you did not get that work project done, you would not be able to tell your boss on the phone that made up story about why it is not done. If your dog was watching you while you were telling the story, you would not want to make eye contact. Your dog knows better.
So we decided that it was time to get back to being a bike racer. Rather than start out with a fun XC 1.5hour singletrack race, we decided to do that 40 mile road bike race on a MTB bike. Dirt roads and the Birkebeiner trail. Rev it up baby!
It has been a while since I had a bike with a number plate on the front.
If you do not know the Chequamegan 40 mile Fat Tire race and Festival, it is huge. The race goes from Hayward to Cable. It follows much of the same trail as the Birkebeiner ski race (only in reverse), and then a bunch of dirt roads. It finishes at Telemark Lodge across the ski runs. It is a tough race, but not because the trail is technical. It is a flat out road race. It starts on the road and goes 3 miles on pavement before it gets to the ski trail. It is a flat out 30 mph pace line. This year was led by Christian Vandeveld and Jason McCartney. Holy crap, is all I can say.
Look closely. I am in there somewhere, along with at least 2500 other people.
There were a couple of things to note.
1. There is a group of pirates that serve rum on one of the hills. It was a riot. I actually took the rum and took a sip of it. It was actually pretty good.
Aye Mate!
The Pirate Gang!
2. It is impossible to have 2500+ people on singletrack. The Hayward area has become known for it's singletrack. This race uses none of it. In fact, you go right by some really sweet looking pieces of singletrack during the race. I found myself saying "what about that piece of singletrack?" We did not hit any of it.
We did a great singletrack ride on Sunday morning. It was raining, but we rode for 2 hours on really sweet singletrack south of OO. It was called the Makwa trail (Little Bear in Ojibwa - We did not see any bears). Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!
Out.
Joe
Goatee of filth.
It's funny, MTB road races like this are some of the best rider turn out races world wide. It's all about HP!
Posted by: Gary Fisher | September 27, 2011 at 08:46 AM