We just got back from a long weekend trip to Minnesota. The main porpuse of the trip was to attend the wedding of my best friend Roberto Madrigal, however it just happended that it was the same weekend of the second event of the Minnesota series so I brought my bike.
We flew on Thursday evening and were delayed due to heavy thunderstorms in the Twin Cities area, eventually we made it to MSP Airport after a bumpy 45 minute approach. Unlike last year when I paid an arm and a leg to bring my bike on a bike box, this time I used Brenda Moore's method and broke the Trek Fuel appart to make it fit into my checked luggage. The wheels didn't fit, however Art lent me his wheel bag which was our other checked bag. Total cost...$0.00.
The next morning I put the bike together. The plan was to pre-ride the race course before heading up to St Cloud for the rehearsal. While putting the bike together I realized I had an incomplete cassette. I probably left one of the cogs in the bucket that I used to clean it before putting it in the bag, so our first stop was at the bike shop for a new cassette. Norma got Roberto's bike as the groom bailed on us to take care of wedding preps. With the weather changing between light rain, to sun, to heavy rain and so forth we decided to risk it and made it to the trail head. We paid our trail passes and completed one lap of the course. Norma was having trouble with the slick conditions of the trail, not to mention her bike had semi-slick tires on it. After one lap we changed and headed straigh up to St Cloud.
Rehearsal was short then we headed to a family dinner and eventually made it to the reception place where we were supposed to help with the final details, however by the time we got there it was done so we hung around, chatted with people and drank beer.
The next morning I met Roberto for an easy road ride on the knobby tires. I called it "The Last Bachelor Ride." The ride was about 20 miles long on rolling hills south of St Cloud.
After breakfast and getting ready we headed to the church where the wedding went on without a hitch. At the reception one of our friends managed to get her car stuck in the soft ground.
Other than that, the ceremony was awesome. Lots of food and drinks. I tried eating properly and drank lots of water and went to bed at around 1 AM. Not the best for racing the next day, however Norma reminded me that the race was secondary...right!
Other than that, the ceremony was awesome. Lots of food and drinks. I tried eating properly and drank lots of water and went to bed at around 1 AM. Not the best for racing the next day, however Norma reminded me that the race was secondary...right!The next morning we had breakfast then drove to Afton to get registered. I jumped on Roberto's trainer for about 20 minutes to warmup then rode to a nearby hill to do hill repeats.
At the starting line I recognize a lot of faces. Unable to tell who is riding well and who isn't I lined up in the second row. The start was a little wet due to big puddles at the bottom of the ski hill. The first hill made the selection of the top 10 and I was in it. By the time we hit the first big climb Brendan had desappeared and I was in a chase group of about 4. I moved a few spots on the first lap and started the second one in third place. Half way up the second lap I got caught by Sam and we worked together until the biggest climb of the course where I went around him to try and make contact with Ben Moore who was in second behing his brother. 
I managed to pass Ben at the start of the third, however I paid for the effort and he dropped me on Shady Lane. I could see Sam and another rider closing in. On the fourth lap I started to cramp up. The humidity had me sweating a lot more than usual and one bottle of liquid per lap didn't seem to be enough. Now I could see the other rider who was Cam Kirkpatrick from Iowa, closing in and event though I tried staying ahead, he was too strong. At that point I put damage control mode to avoid getting caugh by Sam. On the last and biggest climb of the race I could see Sam at the bottom so I had about 60-90 seconds on him. I keep the pace and rode it to the top. From there it was an easy downhill ride to the finish.
I managed to pass Ben at the start of the third, however I paid for the effort and he dropped me on Shady Lane. I could see Sam and another rider closing in. On the fourth lap I started to cramp up. The humidity had me sweating a lot more than usual and one bottle of liquid per lap didn't seem to be enough. Now I could see the other rider who was Cam Kirkpatrick from Iowa, closing in and event though I tried staying ahead, he was too strong. At that point I put damage control mode to avoid getting caugh by Sam. On the last and biggest climb of the race I could see Sam at the bottom so I had about 60-90 seconds on him. I keep the pace and rode it to the top. From there it was an easy downhill ride to the finish. 
Fourth overall and second in the 30-39 group. Not bad for a very humid and slick race.
After the race I got a chance to chat with Jay Richards, who wrote a race recap here.
Pura Vida!
Jeff
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