How it unfolded:
The controlled roll-out suprised me. I almost ran into the back of the motorcycle. Oh well. Up and over the Luge climb with Brian Matter by my side. We pulled out a group of 6. It was Me, Matter, Swanson, Anderson, Marko, and TJ. Matter flatted in Ishpeming, then Doug went down in the puddle of death, which left the 4 of us to battle it out. Soon after, TJ attacked super hard on the power line climbs and I could tell he was feeling good. All was going well until we got to Misery Hill. Ugh. I was put into difficulty on the hike-a-bike. I chased through all the rough stuff and latched back onto the group when the trail flattened back out. After a discussion of the prize list breakdown, it was time to get down to business. From there on out it was all shadow boxing. This is the fun stuff. It's what racing is all about. We were all testing each other here and there on the little rollers. I wasn't sure who had the best legs. Finally on the long paved road section, I knew it was time to go for it and lay out all my cards. I tested them a couple times on the pavement, but nobody was willing to counter-attack. As soon as we got back onto the trail, I attacked on the downhill and got a little 10 second gap. I kept telling myself, "you can do this! Go! Go! Go!" I thought back to Iceman from last year when Brian rolled away with 10 to go and I just kept that thought in my head every time I looked back and saw TJ chasing. It was the perfect mindset as I was able to hold off TJ and roll in for the win! A little more tactical than in the past, but a win none the less. It seemed that anyone of us could have won the race out of that group of six, but a little luck with good timing and patience proved to be the key.
Next up Shenandoah, followed by "The Chequamegon." My goal is to just finish that one in my lifetime.
3 comments:
Great race!!!
Controlled roll-out? I wonder what the rationale was for that. I hope you take the Cheq.
great job man!
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