Weekend Riding

I have had the itch to get in some longer road rides lately. The shorter, slow fat bike rides just haven't been doing it for me. Last week Me, Curt, and Jose set out on a 30 mile route through Afton. The ride started out great but turned super windy and super cold on the way back. There were times on flat sections of road that I had to stand to pedal. When I got back to the car my hands were so cold. So cold. Oh well, I guess that makes me stronger down the road.

I wanted to get in another ride this weekend and check out the Red Bull Crashed Ice course in downtown St. Paul. The weather was pretty good and there was only a slight wind. I snapped a couple pictures but didn't get close enough to get anything good. I was hoping to find a case of Red Bull laying around, but had no luck.

Start

That's a steep curve

I went back up and down the bluffs of my normal route and then headed home to hang out with some friends.

Sunday was the Carver Cold Catfish Cup. I wasn't really feeling racing Sunday morning, but since I had pre-registered I figured I would show. When I got there they said there was an intermediate 2 lap class and an advanced 3 lap class. With my shitty showing at the Elk River race on the 6th and general lack of motivation I signed up for intermediate. They had a nice prologue that went down to the beach, across the lake, and then up a sharp climb before entering the single track. half way through the first lap I was feeling pretty good and passing people here and there. As I entered the single track on my 2nd lap I started thinking that I may have the lead for the intermediate class and that I was sandbagging... I decided that if I kept passing people I would see what place I was in at the end of the lap and if I was in the top 3 I would continue on for a 3rd lap. As I came out of the woods I found that I was in 2nd and decided to continue on. We all started at the same time so it wasn't a big deal. On the third lap I passed 3 people and finished the race strong. I came in 14th out of 54 starters. 14th place felt a lot better to me than a 2nd place intermediate finish.

The trails were excellent for my riding style. There was a nice wide, hard packed track and little ice. I usually get caught in loose snow going around corners or washing out in loose stuff. None of this was an issue for me and it showed. It was also my first race since drilling out my rims which saved me about a pound in rotating weight. It was nice to hammer the pedals and feel some speed, rather than a sluggish acceleration.

With the rain/sleet/snow mix I was wet and wanted to get back home so I didn't stick around afterwards to hang out and have a beer and maybe win something.

This was a great event. Thanks to Reed and all the volunteers for the hard work they put in. The course marshals made sure everyone was headed in the right direction and no confusion.