Sunday, September 16, 2007

Long in the tooth...

Preface: I know a lot of people feel that Cheqaumee is a one of the most important races of the year. For me it is not, but they do put on a pretty wonderful spectacle. Sorry for my weak performance, I would have like to put in a good ride for my team, friends, family, etc.

Ahh, the start....there was the token big crash sending people to the hospital....all I heard was crunching metal and some groans/"oh craps". To add to the sweetness, some guy in a Fassa Bortolo jersey slapped Fisher in the face on Hwy 77 (apparently he didn't like getting passed???). I have heard of road racers fighting, but never mountain bikers... either way, Fisher was a stand up guy and just raced on w/out retaliation.
For me, the race ended early, and I fell apart in the first 5 miles. The pace wasn't absurd, but I could feel it coming when warming up. In the crisp weather, my legs just weren't responding (and tend not to). I rode the middle 15 miles up to Fire Tower hill at a very easy tempo pace w/ the O boys and some others. At the hill, I just climbed it at my pace and found my self in no man's land w/ one other guy. As I passed people going to the finish, I was in a steady temp mode. I guess I finished 20th (overall). The posted results are apparently screwed up, who knows. The biggest surprise for me was too see that I was only 5 minutes behind the winner...with they way I thought I was riding, it felt like I should have been 20 minutes back.
The rest of the weekend was awesome. Our family friend let the Fishers...I mean Jen and Chris, my brother, my dad, and myself stay at his cabin. We had a nice bonfire Sat night on the shores of beautiful Gull Lake. I wish every night after a race was spent that way.
I haven't talked to him, but it looks like Fisher did well today at the STXC. I was going to go but with the long season, I don't think my legs have too many more races left in them before they are going to scream for rest=)
If you are wondering about Ben..he had a wicked cold all week and almost didn't come. He finished 49th. He was feeling so crappy that he slept for 4 hours after the race. Hopefully he doesn't get more sick.
I only have 1 more race planned this year, and it is next w/e at St. Cloud. Our weekends until Nov are booked so I can't make Sheboygan or any of the other season closers.

4 comments:

Richard said...

You've had an awesome season. Glad I could live vicariously this year. Rest, reboot, and ride.

Anonymous said...

Good job Brendan,wish Eric & I could have been with you after firetower,but I spun out on the second to the last hill on the climb. Eric could have gone with you but he let up for me.I on the other hand felt terrible the whole race.My legs had a hard time recovering after the start.Just one more race.See you in St.Cloud.

Brendan said...

SamO,
I figured something happened. At that point were were all out of contention anyway.

I still can't get over how fast Jesse is this year. Hasn't he won almost every WORS Race? Especially to win a race like that were average speeds are so high...WOW...just WOW.

Anonymous said...

I'm in Lab watching my Barium sample dry right now. I did use some 10m HCl in this experiment. I like how the vapor comes out of the bottle when I opened it up. I'll be lucky to get on the bike this week, homework is insane right now. See you sat.
E.O.