First things first, I am going to Illinois this week leaving at 3:00 a.m. Monday morning. We are on a four day work schedule. Sun up til sun down. Leave late Thursday night, have Friday, Saturday, Sunday off. So we will see how this goes.


The start: The course was all switch backs. Switchbacks uphill, Switch backs downhill, all with logs that you could not smoothly go over. Bike-fully rigid, tubeless tires, front 35psi, back 37psi. gearing was 34/18.Lap 1: Sitting in on third. Went into a switchback, rolled my tire, crashed. Got back up, air still good. Still sitting in third. Went over a log too hard, rolled my tire again, crashed. Back up , tire dangerously low, but still gonna push it. Flowing thru the single track, now more tight switch backs, went in too hard again, crashed. Tire flat. Saw fourth and fifth go by me when I was loading my CO2. Back on the bike, Pit, pump up tires, go.

Lap 2: Went smooth, fastest lap of them all, except for. There was a technical section, instead of going around it, I opted to cyclo cross thru it. And then, Crunch! that was the sound my neck made when I hit a low lying tree that I didn't see coming. Ouch!!

Lap 3: Went down 2 more times. Had to CO2 again. This is starting to hurt. Not to mention my 34/18 gearing.

Lap 4: Made it through, played it safe. Legs are starting to burn.

Lap 5: Made it through, played it safe. Legs are toasted. Done! Ended up in 6th place.

Lap times: 1. 54:09 Crash count: 5
2. 48:15
3. 51:25
4. 55:34
5. 1:05:40

Toasted! The course was fun. My gearing was off. I talked to a couple of people that were running like 34/20, 32/18, and 32/19. oops! The tubeless, running low psi obviously there are some things I need to learn, like not being so rammy. Thanks to my pit crew, Brenda and Lucy. Up next, Copper Harbor.
As for this, Had to put some more stans in after I lost most of it at the race. put some in, pumped my tire up to 55psi, and I just got around the corner of the house and Poof! So don't use stans and pump your tire up too much. Have a good one.