Chequamegon
So this was Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival weekend. I have become wussy in my old age so was only doing the Short and Fat (in my defense I've done the 40 about 10 times). Anyway, I have not much to report as my race sucked and I had no desire to be doing it from the start until pretty much the finish. I might as well do the 40 next year since then you have plenty of good reasons when you're not enjoying yourself with that event.
Anyway, I had 3 really nasty crashes occur in front of me in the first few miles of the race. Given that I already didn't want to be racing that wasn't really kicking in any motivation. I basically rode the whole thing on cruise control. At two miles to go I started a conversation with a woman I'd been going back and forth with the entire race (I passed her on the hills and then she'd pass me back any other time). She happened to mention to me that she was really tired. That got me to thinking about how I wasn't really tired so maybe I should pass her. I passed her and then 3 more women before the finish. Guess I might have tried racing the whole race like the last 2 miles and I wouldn't have had my worst finish ever.
Oh well. I haven't really been very motivated to race lately. Actually whenever I race I spend the whole time thinking about how I'm never going to race again. I think it's just a mtn bike thing though as I generally don't like to mtn bike race anymore. I love to ride my mtn bike but not race it. Anyway, hopefully I feel differently about cross since I'm doing the Michigan UCI race next weekend. That's a long way to drive if I'm not going to enjoy myself.
In more upbeat news Dave had one of his best Chequamegon finishes in a long time. He was 161st which totally rocks! He didn't even look bad at the finish. I forgot my camera so I can't prove it but it's true. He's on fire this season!
Since Chequamegon is a Festival we also did the Rough Stuff Rendezvous . . . orienteering by bike. Dave and I did alright and we only had trouble finding one of the checkpoints. It's ironic that not very many women do the event so I always win something even though I have absolutely no sense of direction. I was planning to go out and start without Dave and have him catch up but after having trouble orienting the map I decided to wait the 10 minutes until he started. For the record I did get the map oriented eventually but it took me 5 minutes so I just waited the 5 minutes more for Dave to start. I didn't want to be lost in the woods forever!
The long drive back really made me excited for driving to Detroit (especially since we don't have a working car stereo anymore and are now using a boombox--very high class). However, I am excited that we are staying in an Extended Stay America hotel with a kitchen so we don't have to spend money eating out.
Oh yeah, and Chequamegon really is fun. There's so much great mtn bike energy. I just don't really like hills, fire roads or the Birkie trail but everything else is so great that I just keep going back year after year. I'll be there again next year even with my pathetic whining about not having a good race.
Anyway, I had 3 really nasty crashes occur in front of me in the first few miles of the race. Given that I already didn't want to be racing that wasn't really kicking in any motivation. I basically rode the whole thing on cruise control. At two miles to go I started a conversation with a woman I'd been going back and forth with the entire race (I passed her on the hills and then she'd pass me back any other time). She happened to mention to me that she was really tired. That got me to thinking about how I wasn't really tired so maybe I should pass her. I passed her and then 3 more women before the finish. Guess I might have tried racing the whole race like the last 2 miles and I wouldn't have had my worst finish ever.
Oh well. I haven't really been very motivated to race lately. Actually whenever I race I spend the whole time thinking about how I'm never going to race again. I think it's just a mtn bike thing though as I generally don't like to mtn bike race anymore. I love to ride my mtn bike but not race it. Anyway, hopefully I feel differently about cross since I'm doing the Michigan UCI race next weekend. That's a long way to drive if I'm not going to enjoy myself.
In more upbeat news Dave had one of his best Chequamegon finishes in a long time. He was 161st which totally rocks! He didn't even look bad at the finish. I forgot my camera so I can't prove it but it's true. He's on fire this season!
Since Chequamegon is a Festival we also did the Rough Stuff Rendezvous . . . orienteering by bike. Dave and I did alright and we only had trouble finding one of the checkpoints. It's ironic that not very many women do the event so I always win something even though I have absolutely no sense of direction. I was planning to go out and start without Dave and have him catch up but after having trouble orienting the map I decided to wait the 10 minutes until he started. For the record I did get the map oriented eventually but it took me 5 minutes so I just waited the 5 minutes more for Dave to start. I didn't want to be lost in the woods forever!
The long drive back really made me excited for driving to Detroit (especially since we don't have a working car stereo anymore and are now using a boombox--very high class). However, I am excited that we are staying in an Extended Stay America hotel with a kitchen so we don't have to spend money eating out.
Oh yeah, and Chequamegon really is fun. There's so much great mtn bike energy. I just don't really like hills, fire roads or the Birkie trail but everything else is so great that I just keep going back year after year. I'll be there again next year even with my pathetic whining about not having a good race.
posted by MadCross at 9:58 PM
1 Comments:
It's probably just an MTB thing. Once you see the tape and the little flags out there in Detroit Rock City, you will be all over racing. I couldn't wipe the grin off my face yesterday!
Post a Comment
<< Home