Sam's First Win!

The weather held out for Steeplchase yesterday for the 2nd MNSCS race in Mazeppa MN. They added a bunch more to the course- a fast grassy switchback descent followed by a long climb back to the top, and some fast double track down on the flats at the bottom of the valley. Off the start they had us do a prologue with a couple short steep hills. Charly Tri took the front up the first hill and was quick to yell at Chris (his teammate) to charge at the front after going around him, all while his front wheel was grinding on Chris's(If you knew Charly you'd understand).I'm shure I was behind Sam going into the singletrack, with Paul Hanson, Justin Rienhart, Brendan Moore, Ben Moore,and Chris Fisher on the front. Matt Kurke and Luke Nelson were somewhere around me too. There is no passing in the singletrack because its all off camber; picture a goat trail carved into the side of a hill and thats what most of it is. The new downhill and climb was early in the course and thats where everyone surged to jocky for a better position in the group. I kept telling myself to be conservative but when guys started going around me I started to worry. So I jumped and followed Sams wheel past a fading Paul Hanson. I was near the back if not at the back of the lead group. Again we were back in no passing territory cris-crossing the hill. When we reached the bottom of the hill and started the flat doubletrack I saw Brendan and his brother Ben had gapped the rest of us by about 20 seconds. Sam surged and I followed. "Uh oh, there they go" Chris said. Sam was quickly gaining on the Moore brothers and was pulling away from me. Chasing behind me not too far was Luke Nelson and Chris Fisher. At the top of the main climb Luke and Chris were like 15 seconds behind me and Sam,Ben and Brendan were about 30 seconds ahead. On the second lap I saw Sam a couple of times through the weavy singletrack but no moore brothers. Back down on the flats there was about a 30 second horseshoe direction in the course so you could get a good idea in where people were and if they were gaining. As I was going out, I saw Ben Moore leading with Sam on his tail and Brendan back a few seconds. When I went around Luke was still about 15-20 seconds back. I found out Chris had a flat and called it a day. The third lap started with Luke still in the same spot. The Moore Brothers and Sam had gained more time and I no longer saw them anymore. The battle was now trying to hold off Luke. He would gain a little on the climbs and I could hold him off in the singletrack. It wasn't untill the bottom of the last climb that he finally latched on to my wheel. I told him good race and that he was climbing a bit better then I was. I couldn't contend with him up that last long hill as he could still stand up on the pedals. I had to put it in damage control and spin, for my legs were on the verge of cramping. I finished 3 min down from Sam and 2 down from the Moore brothers. The closest person back from me was about 6 min. The best performance thus far for both of us. Sam took his first win ever in a MNSCS race. Great racing by everyone out there,and thanks to Velo Rochester for a great venue and some great competition.

Photos from www.skinnyski.com
Thats our mom in the background cheering Sam to the finish