Tuscobia.

First off I apologize...no pictures. I had both my camera and iPhone the entire time but never took a picture. So just words!

Friday, after a short day at work, I loaded the car up and made my way over to Park Falls, WI. This entire trip I have been kind of lazy (or something like that) in the planning department. I got the bike built 3 days before the event, packed the bike with gear Thursday night, looked at a map earlier in the week of where Park Falls was and that was it. Made it there just fine.

Gear check in was held at the Chequamegon Canoe Club (The CCC). I didn't know what it was but drove by it several times looking for it. Turns out it is a bar...fooled me. The owners provided us with a meal, breakfast in the morning, and a post race feast too. Great place with a great attitude. A tad "stinky" but that just may be the bikers and hippies!

Saturday morning we were back at the CCC to load our bikes on trailers and ourselves on a bus bound for Rice Lake and the start of our race. It was a good haul to get there, about two hours or more. I think I was able to get a little shut eye in. I did get cold and started to worry about my choices in clothing.
Once in Rice Lake we unloaded our bikes and readied ourselves for the start. But that wasn't for 20 minutes. I got colder and colder. There was snow on the ground but not as much back in Park Falls. We were told once we got about half way the snow cover greatly improved.

At 9:00 we headed out on the Tuscobia Trail, which is a rail to trail but not paved and more rustic than most. The start was very welcome, as by this time I was starting to shake...that would soon past. Within the first mile it was down to just two of us. Dan Jansen of Grand Rapids, MI and myself. Dan, like myself, didn't appear to be much of a talker so we took turns up front. It's not like we were drafting but a change in position seemed to help with the 'ol brain and it's thinking!
For a fat bike we were flying. At the first checkpoint 12 miles in we were averaging more than 13+ mph. We were in and out of the first checkpoint in less than a minute. That's when I knew it was going to be a fast ride. The trail was in pretty decent shape at this point. There were some sections that really slowed you down but for the most part we were able to keep up a the high pace.
Yeah I was no longer cold but a sweating mess. My top tube was covered with frozen sweat. I knew this was a shorter race so I didn't worry about getting wet in the cold.

The next checkpoint was at mile 45. Prior to this the snow pack was more, but not enough that snowmobilers had used the trail in any great amount. I started to struggle to keep on Dan's wheel. I had left my tires with a high psi knowing the course at the start didn't have much snow. I finally decided to stop and let some air out. It took about 10 miles but I was able to catch back up with Dan at the second checkpoint. Here too we were in and out in less than a minute. I did manage to snag a handful of peanut M&M's!

The trail from here till about mile 65 sucked. Our average speed slowly started to drop, while we struggled at times to maintain 5-6 mph. The trail was rutted, soft, wash boarded out, and filled with foot prints from the 50K runners. I hated runners at that point!

Dan is a machine and a man that can hold his pee. He pulled away from me at some point when I was riding with my head down. When I looked up he had 20 or so yards on me. Somewhat deflated I stopped to pee...I couldn't hold it anymore! I figured I would catch back on like before. Several miles later and Dan was still up front, way up front. I stopped again and raised my seat post. The only mechanical of riding a bike for the first time was a slipping seat post. At this point I knew there was no catching Dan unless he too had to stop. I just put my head down and plodded along.

The last 10 miles actually went by fairly fast. I finished in 2nd place with a time of 6 hours 54 minutes...10 minutes behind Dan. I averaged 11.1 mph.

Once in side chatting with Dan we realized we had the same phone, same phone case, in the same color, the same bike and many of the same components...weird!
Finished by 4:00 and was on the road for home by 5:00. Made the detour to Coon Rapids to meet up with the family.

Sunday I went for a little over 2 hour spin on the cross bike. The girls and I then went for an hour hike.

Damn fine weekend. Damn fine.

Just could use some snow here.

Later.


no Monday ride for me. Jen's Birthday!