Manawa

My wounds from Chequamegon are healing, but it wasn’t until five days post-Cheq that I felt decent on the bike again. I spent the whole week on the road bike and just tried to keep the legs happy for another couple of weeks.

The first ride with any substantial post-Cheq was the race this weekend in Council Bluffs at Manawa State Park. I’d never ridden there, but I did watch Cam race there last year. About all I knew was that the course is flat and very tight and twisty – not really the best type of course for me, but I needed to show up, race, and finish in order to clinch the Nebraska Psycowpath Series win for Cat 2 women.

It rained on Friday night, but not enough to force a postponement. We arrived to find the course a little greasy, but it dried out nicely as the morning wore on and as the sun came out and made it near perfect. I took my warm-up lap at about 50-60% effort to see how my body was going to react to this course. I felt okay during the warm-up, but never felt the need to push the effort at all. That should have been my first clue about how the day was going to go…

There were three Cat 2 women that lined up at the start, along with Cat 1 rider, Donna. We started with the Masters men and the singlespeed riders. True to form, Barbara took off with the guys entering the singletrack second wheel in our wave. I was pretty sure I’d never see her again the rest of the race. I took up my usual spot at the rear, behind Ann and Donna. No place to go but up, right? Donna and I got gapped off the back of Ann, and I think this was the first tactical error of the day. I could have passed Donna pretty early in the lap, but I sat in behind her too long. Ann was pulling away and we weren’t giving chase. About a quarter of the way through the lap, I passed Donna and went hunting for Ann.

I could close gap each time we hit a long straightaway, but Ann made the twisty, turny sections look so effortless and she’d gradually pull away again. At one point in the first lap, I decided to try to stay with her in the singletrack, and I was rewarded with another up-close-and-personal encounter with the dirt. Thankfully God was kind enough to allow me to fall on my right side instead of the still very tender left elbow and hip. Still, it was an unpleasant experience and not one I wanted to occur again in this particular race, so I was forced to back off a little bit more. For the rest of the race, I would see her pulling on to the singletrack ahead of me when I was just hitting the straightaways. I just couldn’t talk my legs into responding with enough effort to make any progress. She retained that gap for the rest of the race, and I ended with my worst finish of the Nebraska series: third.

Cam (and Kent McNeil) lapped me near the end of my last lap (third) as they finished up their final lap (fourth). I couldn't find Cam after the race for a long time. His post-race smoothie was still in the cooler and that is usually in his hands immediately after a race. It was a long time until he came back to the car. He wasn't 100% sure that his race was only 4 laps, so he did another one, just to be on the safe side!! Regardless, he finished second overall - same result as last year at this course.

My back was sore, my arms were tired, and I was just plain cranky at the end. Apparently I need a little more in the way of recovery after a big race like Chequamegon. I was encouraged to chat with Ann after the race and have her tell me that she was working her tail off to keep me back! At least her effortless riding style was challenging for her.

It was really good, however, to have a good showing of women at the race. I think there were seven of us in the three fields. Not great, by any means, but better. I tried to talk as many of them as possible into coming to Sugarbottom next week!