Repeat

Conditions were unusual this year for the Mankato race. Previous years typical weather was temps in the 90's and dew points nearing 70 with heat index's over 100. Today were were welcomed with temps in the upper 70's and dry air. It had rained yesterday making the single track fast and holding plenty of traction, perfect for the small blocks. Off the start I was about 8 back or so and up the first hill everyone were making moves. At the top Brendan led with Matt Kurke, Fisher, Luke Nelson, Cam Kirkpatric, Sam, Dave Meyers, and myself in tow. Everything kind of went all over from there. Chris clipped a pedal after the frog pond loop and went down, and everyone kind of split up. Brendan began to pull a gap on Sam and Cam. Luke Nelson was chasing them, and Dave and I were chasing him. Behind us I think it was Chris, Matt, and I think maybe Justin Rienhart at this point may have joined them. I began to pull away from Dave I think on the stairway climb near the end of lap 1 and chase down Luke. On lap 2 I wasn't closing down the gap to Luke but I had a hard charging pack behind me so I stayed on the gas. Lap 3 to my amazement, was Justin Reinhart chasing me down on his cross bike. Thats right, a CROSS BIKE. He was riding the quick release drop and everything on that thing. Reigning Kato course champion Paul Hanson was giving me a hard time from the sidelines (he tore his rotor cuff thursday at Buck) for getting caught by a cross bike. By the end of lap 4 he finally bridged up to me and passed me at the bottom of the starting climb in front of his hometown crowd. Halfway up the hill he popped and I passed him back putting in a big effort to create a gap. The gap only grew the rest of the lap and I came in 5th for the day. Sam took first after Brendan lost his lead to a flat tire. Cam came in 2nd Brendan 3rd, and Luke 4th. I was only 4 min behind in this race compared to 7min at Du Lac which had less climbing, so I am happy with the results. Next up is a recovery week followed by a trip to South Dakota for some mid season base miles.
Today is my dads last day at work. He will be officially retired when he wakes up tomorrow.