As we headed toward the twin cities from Hutchinson the weather looked ominous. A really good storm had rolled through earlier in the day and when Andrea picked me up at 4 there was another line of storms just off to the west and coming our way. Because of the road construction we decided to travel Hwy 7 and take I494 to I35E, which didn't work to well and we arrived too late to get in a pre-ride.
For some reason I was a little lazy at getting to the starting line and initially was lined up way to the left behind a black barrel. I did manage to squeeze in towards the road so I had a clear path to the gravel road. On the start I let the majority of the field go and ended up near the back of the pack entering the single track. I managed to stay on my bike despite the fact that everyone else was walking up the short steep climb, which allowed me to pass a couple of riders as they remounted their bikes. I chose to lay back and recover slightly through the first section of single track. I managed to pass a hand full of riders on the first climb and a couple more on the second climb before entering the single track on the backside. I held a good pace for the second and third laps, but the more aggressive tires were noticeably harder to push. On the third lap I caught up to Matt Nelson and we had a good battle with me gaining on the climbs and Matt charging hard in the single track. Near the end of the race I caught two riders and held there wheel across the front slope. I took the inside line on the last downhill and crossed over to the right at the bottom. I then shifted up slightly and sprinted past the two riders to finish in 27th position.
For some reason I was a little lazy at getting to the starting line and initially was lined up way to the left behind a black barrel. I did manage to squeeze in towards the road so I had a clear path to the gravel road. On the start I let the majority of the field go and ended up near the back of the pack entering the single track. I managed to stay on my bike despite the fact that everyone else was walking up the short steep climb, which allowed me to pass a couple of riders as they remounted their bikes. I chose to lay back and recover slightly through the first section of single track. I managed to pass a hand full of riders on the first climb and a couple more on the second climb before entering the single track on the backside. I held a good pace for the second and third laps, but the more aggressive tires were noticeably harder to push. On the third lap I caught up to Matt Nelson and we had a good battle with me gaining on the climbs and Matt charging hard in the single track. Near the end of the race I caught two riders and held there wheel across the front slope. I took the inside line on the last downhill and crossed over to the right at the bottom. I then shifted up slightly and sprinted past the two riders to finish in 27th position.
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