Saturday the God's Country Duathlon and MTB Race was held at the Lawrence River Trails in Lawrence, Kansas. Rain was called for but did not show it's face until after the event...whew. I showed up early (7:15 a.m.) to help get the registration tents set-up, help folks register and pick-up packets and then to work the time/scoring tent. This was a great experience for me as I had not been on the other side of an event like this before. It was a good lesson on how much effort the promoters and volunteers put forth so the rest of us can have a fun race. Things went rather well and the Duathlon was a success. I will leave it at that. Now it's time for the MTB race and I am in...so I had to run and get ready...
1:00 and we are off racing. It was a group start on the Levee with about 1/2 mile worth of "pass or be passed" on the gravel before we hit the single track. We were to do two laps around the river trails. Riding a single speed I was at a disadvantage coming off the start and trying to get into a good position into the woods took all of my juice. I felt pretty good as we hit the single track, like maybe I was in the top ten at this point. I know the river trails are fast and I had planned to change out the gearing on my single speed to match the trail, however I could not for the life of me get my freewheel removed and had to run what I had, which was slightly under-geared for this event (meaning I was spinning my arse-off just trying to keep a good pace, I was overcoming my bike). In a nut shell, both laps were a plain out sprint. I remember feeling like I was in the front of the pack for the first lap, with a train of folks in the not-so-distant line behind me. I just kept peddling. The trails were in perfect condition and everyone had the hammer down. There was no break, no time to change water bottles and no time to look back. I remember passing a few riders and also being passed by a few others. I felt like I had a great race however I did not place in the top. I'm actually unsure where I placed, so I will update that info as I know. I am guessing around 8th +/-. ( Just got the results and i came in 6th, a little better than I thought but not as good as I'd hoped being that I was 2nd going into the last lap, dang! )
Dave Wilson made a come back from our last race (Bone Bender) and he whooped us all coming in 1st on his SS Niner. I guess if you have your wife and new daughter at the race watching, you'd better put on your race-face...and he did! Nice riding Dave!
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