Lake Ahquabi Race Report

Well going into this weekend I knew what was coming. Unless I put gears on my bike, Cam was going to walk away with this one, while a chase group sat back and duked it out between each other. Needless to say my expectations were to get smoked by 5-10 minutes and Cam didn't disappoint. He took it by 8 minutes.

On the other hand I avenged my worst race ever from last season. I ended up in a chase group with Jed Gammel, Nate Kullbom, and Kent Carlson. Kent did well to hang on and keep pulling back to the group, but Nate, Jed and I were keeping the pace high all race. I don't know why that was needed, but I wasn't slowing down for anyone either. All three of us worked together really well which was refreshing.

There were various times when things would get stretched. Jed dropped a bottle once. He was riding awesome, so I asked Nate to sit up til' he came back. Then at the end of lap 3 Jed had to stop for bottles seeing as he didn't have a hand up, so we let up to keep him in the group. He was riding way strong, so we kept things civil and gentlemanly seeing as he was earning his keep just as much as anyone else in the group, if not more.

At the beginning of lap 4 the three of us were all still together, so I upped the pace to see who still had legs/ who wasn't cramping yet. I sure was close but had been managing to really fight the cramps off. About 1/2-3/4 through the lap Jed asked if we were alone and I let him know that Nate had popped a while back. I also let him know that since everything had been cooperative and all that I wasn't far from cramping and that he'd probably pop me on the asphalt climb. He laughed at that and said he'd been feeling the same thing. He did open up the gap quite thoroughly and I thought I was done.

I noticed through the last 1/4 of the course that he wasn't openning the gap at all and it was holding. I gave it everything I had to keep the gap at 5 seconds. After the asphalt descent I saw the signs of him fading through the grass so I gave it the last of the gas in the tank and gapped up to his wheel. I don't think he liked seeing me there as I kind of came out of no where.

We hit the base of the finishing climb and I was on his wheel. I could see his strain pushing his 32-15 vs. my 36-18 and knew that the climb was mine. I put the hammer down. A couple of kids were caught unaware as we came flying by them uphill. Jed realized a little too late I was coming strong and moved over to try and block me. Shoulders were thrown from both parties. We went down about 50 yards from the line. I patted him on the shoulder as we laughed/cramped and decided to foot sprint for the line.

I took 2nd in the end. Cam gapped us big time. Jed took 3rd. Nate only lost a minute for 4th and Kent came in 5th. Thanks to Bruce Brown and everyone that volunteered on Sunday. Hopefully Boone will be a little better seeing as the course is a little more technical which suits my riding style very well. I am keeping the IMBCS points gap civil until Gnome Fest weekend. That will bury me into 2nd for sure. Still not bad for my first season racing Expert, and not hitting anywhere near all of the races.

Gears?