Wow. I mean, Ow.

I'm still not back to a normal sleep rhythm yet but my legs are doing better than I thought. Thursday I rushed though the building of the bike and I totally missed the skipping of the new chain on the Surly cogs. I didn't think they'd have worn so much just being single speed cogs, but 10 seconds into a lap around the parking lot at 9 Mile had me perplexed. So much for a having the 5 speed gearbox. Off came the deraileur, shifter and 4 cogs. When in doubt, go single speed. The 34x19 seemed like a safe bet. Stuart, Rick, Dave, Connor (Stuart's son) and I went into Wausau for dinner and beer. After cracking open a New Glarus Naked we sat down to talk strategy. First on the list was to have fun. Next was to ride hard. If you couldn't ride hard, just have fun. Then came the drawing of the cards. An Ace, 2, 3, and 4 were pulled from a deck of card and Connor held them out for us to draw. Dave drew the 4, Rick the 3, Stuart the 2 and I pulled the Ace. I was fine with that. I don't get stressed out or nervous but I don't think I start as well as Stuart. After a couple of beers and hanging out with numerous other riders it was time for sleep.

The morning went well. I didn't worry about a warm-up since it would be a Le Mans start to the bikes. There were plenty of BKB jerseys in the field. PLip, Skip and I were a few. The Darkness was flying the mothership's colors. We were off and it was great. Rick Walls had also drawn a short straw (there's a pun there somewhere) and he'd been making noise about giving me a sound thrashing all day and all night. Unfortunately he meant on the bike. I jogged along behind him and hopped onto the Ferrous (almost typed 'Rig') just a rider or two behind him. I stayed with him and Russell until the second minor climb. Then a little voice inside my head said "easy there big shooter, this is an All Day Sucker. Make it last." So I mellowed a touch and worked on the trail. It was a great trail, except for the rocks. Not too much open ski trail, lots of nice single track, not too much actual climbing and plenty of places for spectators. All in all a better course than the WORS Marathon course a few weeks back.

Time for some sleep. I'll add more tomorrow, photos too.