Chequamy Guns

Firetower climb
Wow you wont see that too often
He's thinking, "Why can Eric climb it, but I can't?"

I headed up to Hayward Friday at noon after my Chemistry exam, and took a pre ride with Jesrin when he arrived home from college in Rhinlander. He is taking an unbelievable 22 credits this semester. I never thought they would allow that many. 18 is max for Century. He is going for land surveying so it might be different. It was nice because they have singletrack 30 ft from their door that connects to all the ski trails and Camba trail systems. I wanted to ride Firetower hill and the last Birki section, and Tom would meet us at the lodge and pick us up. Jesrins mom made a sweet spaghetti dinner afterwards too. Sam arrived late friday and took a night ride with Tom Gaier when it was in the mid to upper 30's.
Now the action. It was a cool warm up with the temps arround the upper 40's but the sun made it feel better. The line banner was taken down 10 min before the start so people were starting to come in through the front and move up from behind who shouldn't have resulting in the line moving in front of the banner about 20ft. I put myself in the 3rd row or so but after everyone moved up I was like 5 back. I won't say any names but a MN local who knew Sam and Jesrin moved in front of them from behind when they were standing in line. Sam and Jesrin can beat this person by well over a half hr on any course. Know your standing order people or it would be nice to see them seed in the top 20 first then 40 and so on. With the starts being as hairy as they already are it would be nice to be in front of the people you know you can beat without making any risky moves or without getting caught behind them with nowhere to move while the guys you want to be with are pulling away. Ok thats my rant. On our way up the pavement to Rosies field which is about 2 miles I was trying to make my way up on the right shoulder and putting allot of effort in. With about 1/4 mile to Rosies I hear tires rub and the whole middle of the pack goes down with the smell of burning rubber in the air and bikes smashing against the pavement at 25mph. Its a sight and sound that haunts every rider. Hollywood on my left swerves toward me and I go into the ditch to avoid crashing. I guess Sam was around me and had to do the same thing. By the time I get back up on the road and sprint back up to speed the front group is too far by now. I hit Rosies not feeling good and not where I want to be. I get to the top of the first hill after the pavement and see a Bells Brewing rider go OTB at the bottom finding out latter it was Mike Simonson. Getting on the Birki at the end of Rosies, I was breathing out of control and clawing my way past as many riders as possible. My legs felt cold and sapped, and my lungs couldn't absorb enough oxygen fast enough. I thought that was it, I was going to pop and find myself riding like a small child. I kept pushing though keeping Sam in my sights. With some nice hills to tire some people out I kept moving forward to the front of a long line. Up front it was a guy with a Trek jersey doing most of the work, me helping out when he needed it, Sam in there too, and a guy with a crooked helmet taking flyers off the front. After the first Birki section I looked back when we got on a dirt road and saw a long line of riders as far as I could see. We started to catch people dropping off the front couple of groups and Brendan joined joined our group at this point. After going through a massive roar of spectators at OO, Sam led through a 4 wheeler trail and at some point we broke free with only 7 guys in the group. I knew the pace was intense at the front of the race because we were passing alot of good guys that were getting shelled. Casualties included Doug Swanson, Ben Moore, Tom Miller,and Tristan Schouten. When we hit the Firetower climb with 13 to go I believe, The Trek guy and Brendan took off. I was about 30 sec back at the top but let Sam catch back up on the descent. A Bells Brewing guy also came back and we were a group of three. The last Birki section is the demise of many because it is interval city. It is the longest 2 miles of the race. Jesrin said he tt's it in about 9 min during training. But after 33 miles of racing under your legs it is brutal. The Bells Brewing guy came to the front for the first time in those 33 miles rolling the big 29ers. Towards the end of the Birki I think I saw Fishers group ahead of us but we never caught them. At the top of the very last hill in the Birki TJ Woodruff was fixing a flat and we picked up a Grand Stay rider. Everyone was feeling it at this point. TJ caught up to us on the road by the time we entered the last section of trail before the finish. The Bells brewing guy was holding the front, TJ, myself, the Grand Stay rider, then Sam. On the last hill the Grand Stay guy came around me and thats how it ended. I held off Sam and another guy in a sprint and came in 32nd, around 7 min back from that crazy singlespeeder that won it. 2:18.38 is a personal best for me,and I came back with no injuries. It was a successful weekend.

Sam is finally feeling the effects of racing this year and is looking forward to taking some time off the bike after next weekend. I am too:) Thanks to the Gaiers for all their hospitality and food we really enjoyed your company. Next week is the last race of the season for us as we head to St Cloud for the MNSCS season ender. I think the big battle is between Sam and Brendan for the series title as this may be the decider on who gets it. Remember its a saturday race not a sunday people. See you at the prison.