It was the perfect weekend to drive across Wisconsin. The fall foliage was near its peak - gorgeous! We were also enjoying an awesome Indian summer, with temps in the 70s and 80s and not a single cloud in the sky.
Our hosts for the weekend were Cam's friends Ty and Christine. Tyrine, as they are collectively known, live in a great little house in Milwaukee, just an hour's drive from the race venue in Sheboygan. They are great hosts and Christine is an fantastic cook!
Friday night, after we arrived and cleaned-up, we all headed out for some dinner and Spotted Cow at Maggiano's, then onto what was basically the joint bachelor/bachelorette party for Mike and Chimene. They were bar hopping with a party bus, but the two bars we stuck around for were so smoke-filled that we ended up hanging out outside on the street for the most part.
Saturday's weather turned out to be just as amazing as Friday's, so after breakfast, we drove north to register for the race and recon the course. Cam lead me on a lap while I got my mountain bike mojo dialed in, then we split up for another lap. There were a couple of hairy sections that I needed to take a second look at, but overall, I was feeling good and ready to test things out against a much larger field than I had faced in the past.
After a shower and a beer, we sat down to a great pasta dinner Christine had prepared and chased that with a carrot cake I had baked at home. The food coma that followed, coupled with the late night on Friday, put us all to bed before 9pm.
My race started at 10am on Sunday, so that meant we would need an early start to get to Sheboygan on time. Once we found Cam some coffee and put some gas in the Jeep, we were on our way. And, the weather looked to be just as perfect for the third day in a row!
I got a short little warm-up, then piled in with all the nearly 185 other Citizen racers (40 women, 145 men). Thankfully, it was a wave start, so the women started at 10:10am. I didn't have a very good start and probably went headed into the singletrack about 30th of the 40.
It didn't take me very long to realize that I was way farther back than I wanted to be. Once I started to get a feel for things, I started passing people. My two main goals were to beat the chick I saw at the start line wearing a cycling skirt (in a mountain bike race???) and the girl who was giving me a hard time about not having any water on my bike (she was in total over-kill mode sporting a Camelback for a race that shouldn't take much over an hour to complete...). I disposed of those two really early on in the first lap, so I just started to pick off people one by one. Soon, there were men in the mix, but they were all pretty cool about letting me past.
I had a blast on lap one and was really looking forward to tearing it up on lap two. I continued to work my way through the traffic on the singletrack, but I noticed I could really do some damage on the gravel sections. Many racers seemed to use those areas as a place to recover from their effort in the singletrack, so I passed a bunch of people there. As I started up the gravel on lap two, a spectator said, "Keep pushing, the girls are about 10 seconds ahead." I thought, "Great, the next couple people aren't too far up there; maybe I can pick up a couple more spots before the end!"
Cam was waiting at the top of the hill to take some pictures. He looked like I had startled him, as he rushed to get into position for this shot:
After he took the picture, he told me I was in 4th place! Now I was on a mission! I had a few more dudes to work my way past, then just before the Equalizer Hill, I spotted the three women ahead of me. I made it around the first one without any trouble, but the next two made it perfectly clear that I wasn't getting around them without a fight. As the three of us rode along, I sat on the second place chick's wheel and waited for them to make a mistake that I could exploit. It happened sooner rather than later, and I flew past them while they tried to get their rhythm back.
With the hill looming (and knowing full well that none of the three of us were going to ride the whole hill), I punched up a notch, as I knew I had a giant target on my back now!
I ran up the hill and again saw Cam perched at the top with the camera. He looked about as surprised as I was that I was in first place! Now deep in the red-zone, I jumped back on the bike and took off down the trail and tried to maintain what little lead I had. I knew there was one final section that would be tricky coming up before the finish line; I had had a little trouble with it on Saturday and lap one. Sure enough, I hit the sandy section and had to get off and regroup. I was so crazy that an easy remount turned into a couple more tangles with the bike - I just couldn't get back on the bike - very frustrating! And the more frustrated I got the more clumsy I became. Sure enough, second place came whipping by me, just as I got myself collected and back on the bike. I pushed it, but she was too far ahead for me to catch before the finish line.
I finished 19 seconds back, and thoroughly cooked. Cam had a big hug waiting for me, while I beat myself up for having such a bad end to a great race. He was pretty excited that I did as well as I did. I was just happy to have had such a blast and come out in second place.
Thanks to Christine, we didn't miss the Citizen awards. I got to stand atop the podium for the very first time to collect my age group win.
Next up was the main event: the Expert Race. I tried to station myself all over the course to get a variety of shots for Cam's 5-lap race. But, soon I was drawn over towards Equalizer Hill with the majority of the rest of the fans. It's a fun place to watch people suffer... and there is someone at the top of the hill handing out $5 bills to riders who ride all the way to the top without getting off the bike. The racers are moving a little slower here, so you get to see your favorite longer. It makes for some interesting photo ops, too!
Cam moved steadily through the field from about 11th place on lap 3 up to 5th place near the end of lap 5. I enjoyed a beer while he suffered, but I did manage to get some good pics and keep him updated on where he was in relation to the other pros.
He held on to 5th place, tying his highest WORS finish! A good day for both of us!
As soon as the awards were over, we packed up and headed south in search of greasy pizza, a shower, and then the wedding.
The outstanding weather continued, and although we arrived a couple hours into the reception, we ate some awesome foods and laughed until my face hurt!
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