Fat Tire Recap

Well, another Chequamegon Fat Tire Fest has come and gone. I would have to chalk this one up as a successful endeavor.
We headed up to Telemark on Thursday. If you haven't stayed at Telemark during the CFTF or the Birkie it is something you just have to experience. Being around so many like minded folks is just amazing. Not too many other places you can see bikes being wheeled down hallways and into hotel rooms. We stayed with my sister, brother-in-law and niece. A great bunch of people to spend an awesome weekend with. We were spoiled royally by my brother-in-laws cooking. If the weekend had lasted much longer I would have had to start a diet. Lasagna, pizzas, pancakes, venison....Just thinking about everything I ate that weekend is making me hungry all over again. Thanks Mike, you can cook anytime!
Friday Mike, Bethany (niece) Tammy and I went out to pre-ride part of the Short and Fat course. This was Beth's first race so we wanted to at least show her what the finish would be like. We rode in a little ways on the course and turned around and headed for the finish. Beth didn't look like she was having alot of fun. Although the Short and Fat is around 16 miles in length it isn't an easy course. The hills start early and never stop. Not an easy course for a first race. Beth must have been thinking "what in the hell am I in for"? I tried to reassure her and told her that her main goal should be just finishing. Dead last is always one step ahead of DNF. After we rode to the finish Tammy and I turned around to explore a section of single track that we had noticed.
Now, I probably haven't mentioned this in any previous posts but Tammy has just started mountain biking. She started on a Trek meant more for bike paths. After a few rides on some local single track and ski trails she bought a "real" mountain bike. More aggressive riding position, better components, meant for serious riding. She has really taken to this sport. After beginning running a few years ago and really enjoying that her enthusiasm for biking shouldn't have surprised me. She gets better by leaps and bounds every time we go out. Every time she jumps on that bike and says "let's go" she makes me very proud. Quite a different lady from the one I met just a few short years ago.
So, back to Chequamegon land. Race morning dawned with beautiful weather. Sunny, a little cool before the start but warming up to around 60 by race start. I hopped on my bike at Telemark and rode into Cable to the start. I had a great warm up. Nice and relaxed. Legs felt great. No aches or pains to complain about. I met the rest of Team OTB-Off the back-in Cable and we unloaded their bikes and headed towards the start. Beth didn't want much of a warm up so Mike and I headed down the road a short distance to stretch out his legs. Then we headed back to the start and the porta-potty lines. Then into the starting area.
I had a preferred start so I headed towards the front and Mike and Beth headed towards the back. Gotta love that preferred start. No worries about getting a spot and then standing around for an hour or more. With about 15 minutes to go they called us to our bikes. I was feeling a little more nervous than I usually do. I had been keying on this race all summer and really wanted a good result. I always have butterflies at the start of a race. I guess when that feeling goes away it will be time for me to stop racing.
10:00 a.m. and then starting gun goes off. I hate the start of this race. I always go out to hard and pay for it on the first hills on Randysek Road. The hills start right away and don't stop until the finish but I never learn. The first quarter mile was controlled this year so that helped a little. Still, when I hit the dirt I was sucking air right away. I pulled back a little bit knowing I wasn't exactly going to win and I wanted to have a good race. Plus I knew that I would do better once I hit the rolling hills on the Birkie trail. Patience, just wait for the parts of the race that suit my riding style better. Hard to listen to that inner voice as riders were streaming by!
I tried not to let too many riders pass me and settled into a good, hard pace. I have kept one thought in my head all summer. Tammy said, "some times you have to suck it up and suffer". Every time I thought of that I gritted my teeth and pushed just a bit harder.
I kept waiting for the right hand turn that signaled to me the parts of the course I knew suited me better than the start. Once I hit that I pushed a little harder and started to make up some lost ground. I don't know why I like the Birkie trail portion more than other parts of the trail. I just seem to flow, for lack of a better explanation. Once those hills arrived I pushed as hard as I could. The last half of the course was my best part of the race. I hit my granny ring once, on "Big Bertha", a short and steep hill. After that I stayed in my big ring for most of the race. I pushed on the downhills and kept the speed up on the ups.
When you are a couple of miles out you can already here the finish area. The announcer is cheering on racers and you can hear the crowd. That just fires me up even more. You know you're getting close but still have a few miles to go.
Towards the end you pop out of woods and onto a gravel road on the fringe of Telemark Resort. That means about a mile and a half to go. It is a nice up hill section on the road to another section of grassy trail. Down a nice hill and then up the back side of the ski hill. I bit my lip and pushed up the hill. Just a few hundred yards to go now. Down the other side of the hill and up a couple short hills to the finish line. I gave it everything I had left and crossed the finish line. 1:02:25 for a finish time. I had a few goals before the start and this fell right about in the middle. Sub one hour was my "gold" goal but this was damn close. I haven't ridden this course this fast for a LONG time, maybe 10 years or more. That time put me in the top 100 out of over 800 and top 10 in my age class. I was pretty happy with the result.
After talking with Tammy and Trish I headed back out to the gravel road and waited for Mike and Beth. After a short wait they came down the trail and headed down the road to the finish. They both looked good and I knew they would both finish. Pretty darn good for Beth's first race and for Mike too. This is the only race he does all year. They may not be way up in the results but they are out there, testing themselves, instead of just watching. I am as proud of them as I am of myself for doing well.
After everyone had finished we posed for some pictures and headed back to the room to clean up. Then we all headed back to the finish area to soak up more Fat Tire fun. What a great day. It had warmed nicely with a nice breeze and everyone was having a great day. After watching all the riders Tammy said she wants to do it next year. Wow! Like I said earlier, she sure has changed and she never cease to amaze and inspire me.
Later that evening Dad and Char came down from Ashland to visit. We talked and ate MORE food. It was the perfect end to an amazing day. I can't wait for next year. I am thinking of doing the 40. I haven't done that in a while and it would be a new challenge. Or, maybe, I'll do the Short and Fat again but on a singlespeed. We'll see.