Labor Day Weekend

(update: I added some pics below)

I am so behind. There's so much to write about. If only one could blog while driving to/from a race, or on a ride. That's when some of the best thoughts pop up... I haven't even had a chance to even write about how nice and how much fun Ben and Julie's wedding was! Until then, I will do a short version for Labor Day weekend. It may not be so short by the time I am done.

Labor Day weekend brought my favorite kind of weather - warm and dry. I have been waiting all summer for some hot weather! It's often cooler by my house so I have felt shortchanged this summer.

Friday night: went out to dinner with New Zealand Wendy, her ex-boyfriend, her ex-roommate's ex-boyfriend from France, and her soon-to-be roommate who also happens to be from France. The people from France came here (independent of each other) to teach for a year. We sat outside at Heartland Cafe. Then got ready for the race until about 2 am, then off to bed, later than I had planned.

Saturday: got up, got ready, got the food/cooler ready, packed the car and hit the road for Stump Farm near Green Bay! One of my favorite WEMS courses! I sat in at least four different traffic backups, three on the tollway, and one north of Racine where state troopers shut down a lane or two for an accident. This put me at least 45 minutes, probably more, behind schedule. (I really did leave on time!) I enjoyed watching all the Harley riders heading up to the 105th anniversary, it made the long drive alot more interesting. By the time I got registered, ready, and had to go back to get a second number plate after mine vanished into thin air, the race had already started. I saw the pack of LeMans starters go by, it was kind of fun to watch them all scrambling for their bikes. When it comes to LeMans starts, I'm not a scrambler. I'm more of an ambler.

I saw Amanda and Audrey right away when I got there - it seemed like they had had a good day on the trails and were ready to head home soon, complete with awards.  Congrats! Audrey got to experience, for a lap, what it was like to ride a mt bike that fits her. Someone lent her a bike for a lap.

About 15 minutes after the others, I finally got going.

I'm not sure if the big snake that slithered across the trail right in front of me midrace lived to tell the tale or not - I didn't feel a "thump", so I hope he was able to get out of the way. I couldn't believe how big he/it was! The course seemed a lot bumpier and less swoopy/flowy than I remembered from last year. One person suggested that the wors race had an effect on the course, in terms of increased wear. I don't know if that race used all the same trails, or not, so I can't comment.

I do know that there was a lot more sand than I remember, due to the recent lack of rain. This makes me think we might be in for a lot of sand at Chequamegon too? I didn't like the sand at all - I have forgotten how to ride in sand. There was one particular scary sandy downhill that didn't get any better each time I did it. I am close to deciding that this bike is not a great sand bike, after losing control over and over. I always made the save, though, just in time.

I was on edge the whole last lap, wondering if I should be trying to squeeze that lap in. I hadn't been keeping as close an eye on my lap times as I usually would. I got thrown off by the late start. Sure enough, it got down to the wire! Near the end when I was starting to worry, I got some friendly encouragement from Tim M., and some inspiration from watching two Hayes blurs on wheels that I think were Russell and perhaps Kyle. Having them roar by helped me mentally pick up the pace. Once I was in the open I gave it everything I had trying to make it before the 6:00 deadline. It was very close. At 5:57 I still wasn't sure exactly how close the finish line was, though I knew it had to be soon. I finished with around 25 seconds to spare!! And just now I noticed that the woman who was ahead of me finished only 33 seconds ahead. Wish I had known she was there! I passed several people in the first lap. If I hadn't started late I think I would have gained only two more places, looking at the results. Not that you ever know for sure how it would have gone. There was a pretty big gap up to the faster people from there.

Subtracting the late start time, my first lap and last lap were very close in time. I must have really slowed down in the second one though, that one was four minutes slower. Usually they are all within a minute or so of each other. The first lap I was torn between just going my own comfortable pace and having fun, or trying to catch some people. I had no idea of even how many women were in the race, but I did know there were some I couldn't catch under any circumstances! The second lap I fell apart a little, my singletrack skills got even worse that lap, I was all over the place and bobbling on stuff I cleared the first lap. The last lap I was under the gun to finish under the deadline, so I stepped it up in the second half.

After the race Susie led the awards ceremony for the three hour race. Lori got second and Brittany got third - nice work! They each got to take home one of those awesome Stump Farm pint glasses. Thanks to Susie and Bill for putting on the race! I saw at least one dad out there riding the whole race with his son, and one husband riding along with his wife in her first race, how cool is that? I think Susie and Eliott did a lap or two together, too. Eliott won a stuffed animal - they had some kid's prizes.
Brittany (3rd, 3 hour) and Lori (2nd, 3 hour) after the awards with their pint glasses.
Susie and Elliot. Susie's husband Bill is the race director. Susie rode laps with Elliot, who won the prize you see here.

After the race I chatted with some people and compared notes with Anne about the course. We all had dirt all over us - some smart people had sun showers with them. Thanks to Bill and Brittany for sharing some of their delicious bbq in the parking lot. It was fun talking to their Pedal Moraine group.

At the gas station/restaurant/convenience store on the way to the main road, the woman at the checkout counter asked how the race was. Apparently she was getting pretty good at spotting the white feet/dirty legs combination! Or maybe it was the dirty raccoon face thing some people had going on! And I thought I had gotten all the dirt off - there was just enough of a hint of a dirt ring left that she spotted me for what I was - an exhausted bike racer. She said people had been coming in to buy alot of icy hot, among other things.

Things that helped me stay awake on the drive home: running across the "House of Hair" show on The Hog radio station. Metal bands. Dudes with long hair. It was funny seeing the radio display showing "The Hog" and "House of Hair". I was amused by that for some reason. When that got old I discovered a station with call letters that included KM for "Kettle Moraine" (Northern Kettle) that was playing polkas! Lively stuff. I lasted about two songs, but it did perk me up.

Got home late, got to bed late.

Kettle on Sunday, met up with some teammates and some of their friends later in the day. I was feeling so beaten up from the race that I almost didn't go. Took 41 to avoid the tollway back-ups, which worked well . Tried the Rainy Dew trail for the first time - I like it. I was surprised to see a big log pile on the blue - it hadn't been there the week before. It was the height of two people, I would say. A good North Shore style rider might be tempted to ride down the side of it for fun. I'm sure someone's already thought of it... We ended up hanging out for quite a while, into the early evening. Fun. They were going to bbq but not enough of their friends could make it so we got stuff from the general store. I got everyone that had our team jersey on to pose for a pic.


Kettle again on Monday. Took 41 again. The girls ride was starting too early for me, but I had lunch with some of them (Christine, Sonni, Amelia and Ty) at the general store, then went back for another loop before heading home. (Regina and Bill left right after the ride.) I had to be at a going away bbq and was concerned that traffic at the end of the holiday weekend would be bad. It wasn't as bad as I expected!

The going away party was really fun. Brian is moving to Colorado, and it seems like he can hardly wait to begin his new adventure. I will be sad to see a good friend leave, but I know he's ready for something new. Our local group of friends has fallen apart as people have moved away in the last year. There goes one more.....

Pretty much all I did for the weekend was eat, pack, drive, race, drive, ride mt bikes, eat, drive, socialize, and so on. It was fun. I am tired. What happened to the two days of not traveling anywhere I had promised myself? Or all the house stuff I was going to get done? Oh, well, it was perfect weather for me. You have to take advantage of it when you can, with winters like ours!