Chequamegon XXV

This was my first mountain bike race. I raced the race on a rental bike as my bike was in the shop. Not ideal to be riding a bike you are not familiar with, but at least I was able to ride. I stopped two miles in to adjust my seat post, which was too low and I had not noticed that when I initially picked up the bike. It was a beautiful day and was wonderful for being able to gain some experience handling the trails. Luckily I didn't have to stop once, but I did have to walk the bike up the Firetower Hill. I think if there wouldn't have been such a big mass of people walking their bikes, I probably could have pedalled up the hill in low gear, but I will never know that. Unfortunately, that is an area where there tends to be a big bottleneck of riders since everyone slows down at that point. My goal was to finish in under 3 hours and my time was 2:52:52.8. I was 498th out of 1742 overall and 74/175 in age group.

2007 Cleghorn Harvest Fest 22 mile race

This was a relatively short 22 mile race, but was fairly hilly. The pace started off very slow. No riders wanted to share in trying to take the lead, so I pushed the pace. A couple of riders jumped on behind me and rode my wheel for the rest of the race until right before the finish. It was a good strategy for them, as I finished third overall with a time of 57:25.9, which was 1.7 seconds behind the first place rider.

Brill Woolly Mammoth Classic

This was a run in conjunction with the Brill Harvest Fest. 5K and 10K runs were run simultaneously on an out-and-back course. The 5K turn around-point is before the 10K turn-around point and happens on the scenic Ice Age Trail. My wife and I participated in this event. I did the 5K and ran a 19:20 time which was first overall. It would be nice in coming years to see this event grow, as it was a small race, but food was good and there was a nice awards ceremony afterwards.

Chris Kerr Memorial Race

I didn't bring all my aces to the table on this race. The Chris Kerr Memorial Race is 45 miles long and winds through the hills and countryside around Cameron, Wisconsin. About 3 or 4 miles into the race, I got dropped on the opening hill and couldn't maintain the speed of the rest of the group. I fought wind most of the ride and rode solo for much of the race. I felt great in that even though it was very windy and I rode solo, I still average over 20 miles per hour. My time was 1:49:48.0 and I was 41st out of 91 riders. I was seventh in my age group and the leaders were not anywhere in sight most of the race.