Icebox 240

This Saturday was the Icebox 240 at White Tail Ridge in River Falls, WI. I went to this race last year on a last minute whim and wound up having a really good time. So when I got the KORC email about this years event I knew that I had to make it. The first year I believe they raced for 240 minutes and whichever team had the most laps won. That format seems to have been abandoned and now it's total number of team laps. I really like the set up of this race. At the beginning you either put your name on the Comp, Sport, or Beginner list and your team is randomly chosen from one person in category. It gives everyone some bit of hope at the beginning that they could place. This year the race started at 4pm and I knew that I would  be late because we had hockey till 3, so I had Larry put my name on the list for me. When I got to the race they had just started so I had no idea who my other teammates were. After asking around quickly I found out I was on a team called the "No shows" and that Jeremy had already started and our other teammate Matt was not there yet either. So I waited at the start/finish and tried to figure out who my teammate was. Just before Jeremy came in one of the KORC guys pointed him out to me so we had a fairly quick trade off. This years event consisted of 13 laps with a minimum of 3 per person. I figured if it came down to it I would take the 5th lap. The course was in great shape with the exception of a few greasy spots on the Jeep road climb and the switch back climb at towards the end of the lap. I felt good all day and was doing 18 minute laps on the shortened course. I can't think of one spot where I "took a break." I went as hard as I could at all times.

After my second lap our third teammate, Matt, showed up and did two laps in a row to catch up with us. From there we each took one lap turns. We were far back at that point and I could see that a place was not really within our grasp. On my last lap though I passed 5 people and almost a 6th on the final stretch so I checked the leader board again, but there were already 4 teams out on there 13th lap as we were about to start our 12th. So we all decided to end with 12 laps and drink some of the free Rush River beer (Little know fact: The brewery is right next to the trail and they fill growlers for $5.) Jeremy had also stopped at Casanova's on the way over and shared some of his growler of Ale Asylum Hopalicious.

There was also pizza, brats and burgers.

The weather was perfect and once again I had a really good time once again. It is a great event put on by Nick and all the other KORC volunteers. I need to start making it over there a little more often and riding, racing, and doing trail work. The trail has come a long way in the past two years and is a great alternative to Battle Creek to get some climbing in.

Thanks again to KORC for putting this race on!!

Update on the deer hunting post:

The rut was ON this weekend and two bucks are now hanging in my Dad's garage. With the very early start this year the bucks were not quite as ready to chase some tail as they usually are during hunting season. This made the 2nd weekend much better. I'm tired of typing so if you want the full story (or the short version) of these two guys, just ask next time you see me.