Wausau Road Race

Despite having some decent miles in my legs I was pessimistic about being in race shape. I would later find out, upon looking at the results, that my pessimism was well founded. I had to choose between Open Single Speed and Comp 45-49. I based my choice on this: I'd rather get my ass kicked by guys my own age than guys half my age, plus Russell would be there somewhere. At the start I was able to hang on to the wheel of the last of the group as we entered the tree line after the first 400 meters. But the wide open cross country ski trail lasted for a considerable stretch. I was spun out (32x18) so there wasn't much to do but make the best of the day. I stayed in touch with a 40-45 rider for most of the first lap. I'd catch him in the little bit of single track there was, and he even offered to let me get around at one point. But I told him I lacked the motor to stay in front so he was fine where he was. On the second lap I caught a pair of single speeders. 910 was definitely having a bad day standing there as I went by. 904 was geared too tall for the climbing as I was able to get by before the open fire road on the back of the course. Even in my sorry state of conditioning I was able to drop him before the water stop. Shortly after that I was passed by the train that was Matter, Marco, Braun & Peariso. The last lap was spent communicating with the faster Elite traffic as they passed me unimpaired. The bike behaved, the gearing was right given my conditioning and many thanks to the super fans who called my full name on the straight. Thanks to Jon for the water in the rock garden.

Now for the race that mattered most: Sephie's

Her girlfriend Julia spent the weekend and Sephie wanted to show off her talents at the WORS event. I'll cut to the chase: She nailed it. She was 1st in her age group and 2nd of all the girls. She'd have been 7th in the boys field by less than 4 minutes back.

For her achievements she got hardware and threw her hands in the air.

She's checking out the older girls.

Game face in place.

A pre-race hug and smile for dad.

Spun out in the middle ring at the line.

Eyes on the line.

I need to re-fit her to the bike. I raised the saddle nearly 2 inches last weekend.

All the wide open trails, dog sitting Coop (not to be confused with Co0o0op) and running around with Julia took a toll. After a Culver's stop the back seat became quite.

A word about the course at Wausau. That word is SUCK. In the 5 years I've done various rides and races there. Never before has every boring, uninspiring, unchallenging, tedious section of trail been strung together for one lap. Whoever did that is an asshole. On the up-side, it has to be a better lap next year, it can't get worse.