Last Saturday we headed up to Duluth for MNSCS round three. We were not planning on doing this race. After Zach did not finish his first race and then missing the second race due to a dirt bike crash, we decided to add this race at the the last minute. We arrived Saturday afternoon and pre-rode the course. It's a good thing we did, because we changed our gearing so we could make the big climb at the start. We camped out Saturday night and met some very cool people. Sunday was a beautiful day, sunny and cool. The race course was very challenging, It started at the base of a ski hill and went straight up to the top, what a killer! At the top, we entered a very tight, twisty, rooty, single track that was non-stop for five miles. It dumped us out near the bottom of the climb ,so that we could do it again. Zach started in a wave ahead of me and had a very good race after spending two weeks off the bike. If you look close at the picture above you can see he still can't wrap his pinky finger on his right hand around the grip yet. It didn't seem to slow him down much though. Zach finished first in his age class and 17th overall.
I, also had a good day of racing as single track is my kind of course. I finished second in my age class. It was nice to be back on the podium again. These great pictures were taken by Dana Schoppe
Sunday's race was another large field,179 in my race. This is a view from up the ski hill of the start of my race. I got a poor start and got stuck in a huge bottle neck at the beginning of the single track, while the leaders rode away. After I got though that mess, I started making my way through traffic. Afton is probably the the hardest race of the MNSCS series, and it definitely has the most DNF's. I ended up 4th in my age class again. It was a good race for me.
Zach, on the other hand, got to watch from the sidelines. Saturday nigh,t I had to take him to the ER to get 5 stitches in his leg and get his hand X- rayed to find out he had a broken finger. He was riding his friend's dirt bike and one of his other friends t-boned him with a four wheeler. He should be good to go in a few weeks. Our team mate Ben Shocky was also at Afton mixing it up with the rest of the expert racers.
Sunday was a beautiful day for our first race of the season. And it seemed that everyone thought so too, 517 people showed up for the day's races! There were only 189 in our race. We up graded to Cat. 2 for this season, so the competition will be stiffer for sure. Zach went off in the wave before me and got a good start. He held that position through the second lap until he hit a berm too hard and pushed his tubeless tire off the rim and let out all the air. He couldn't get it refilled and had to DNF. My race went well, I got a decent start and worked my way through alot of traffic for three laps to finish 4th in my age class.
After the race, we ran into our team mate Ben Shockey, and met his wife and son , in-laws and friend Collin. It was fun to meet a great group of people.
That's two Fisticuffs! Yep,I got mine put together this week. I headed out this morning to join up with local roadie group ride. I was a little apprehensive about joining up with these guys with my single speed and having them on their high $ carbon fiber road bikes. I've never ridden that far on a single speed on the road before( 60 miles) but I've ridden with these guys many times before, so I knew what the pace would be like. After about 10 miles, I was sitting in, no problem. We hit quite few bigger hills and I was able to hang with the front group, no problem! Towards the end of the ride, I had several guys comment how surprised that they were that I was able to hang on a single speed. I had so much fun on the Fisticuff that it's going to be my main road bike for the summer.
We finished putting the Fisticuff together last night and took a couple of pictures this morning. After the photo session It was time to test this bad boy out. Zach made a few runs at our cyclocross practice barrier before we headed out for some real riding. We hit the road first on our way to our local trails.. The first thing he noticed was how smooth and stable it felt on the road. When we came to short steep climb, he was out of the saddle sprinting and was very impressed by how solid it felt under full power. Then, it was on to the trails where Zach said from the start the Fisticuff made him feel right at home.
For now, we have it set it up as a single speed and will be switching it over to road tires for most of the summer to train for mountain bike racing. This fall will be switching it over to gears for the upcoming cross season. We don't have much time in on it yet but from Zach's initial impressions, this is going to be one really fun bike.
Last night Zach and I attended The Minnesota Cycling Federation's annual awards banquet. It was a big night for Zach, he was named the Minnesota Junior Cyclocross Rider of the year! Way to go Zach.
