Chequamegon Victory!

I pulled off the big one last weekend at the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival in Hayward Wisconsin. It was two years earlier when I soloed to win the 40 mile race in record time. That year I was flying, racing full time and winning lot's of races. This year I was struggling to find good form on the mountain bike, and the race came down to one of the biggest sprint finishes in Chequamegon history. But it feels sweet to win again.

I've been saying that if I could make it to the halfway point in the lead group I would have a good shot at the win. In this race, I seem to defeat myself half the time. This year my tactic was to stay low key until I settled into it. I almost blew it right away. As we hit Rosie's Field I accelerated hard and gapped everyone by 20 yards. Oops. I didn't want to try another solo time trial out there. I slowed down and going into the woods it was a long long line of riders. At this point I tried to save as much energy as I could. I didn't attack, or pull like crazy at the front and I started to feel pretty comfortable. It wasn't long before we were at the halfway point at OO. I grabbed a bottle from my Dad and we hit the hills.

Chad Sova made the first attack up the initial steep climb. I rode up to him and as he slowed over the top I kept going. At the front my legs felt great. I wasn't overextending myself, but I was going fast enough that no one wanted to come around me. It was perfect. Over the next ten miles, our group expanded and contracted as we would make hard efforts and then relax. The Eppens couldn't go as fast on the uphills and would get dropped, only to bridge back on the flatter gravel roads, each time with someone in tow. I wasn't ever sure exactly who was in our group, but 6 of us were always there; Steve, Jeff, Tristan, Brian, Ian and me. The Eppens, AJ, Chad Sova and Bill Stolte were on and off as well.

I tried my hand at an attack down by the lake with about 12 miles to go. It whittled the group down for a while, but when I sat up, everyone slowed again. It was cat and mouse all day long. Fast...then slow. The firetower climb was rocky this year, but we all climbed it successfully. I was the first over the top and again started pedaling at the front on my own terms. It wasn't until the last section of Birkie trail that I was really in any trouble. Ian was motoring at the front on the long, slow climbs and I was cross eyed on his wheel with my chin on the handlebars. I had to tell myself to hang in there, it wasn't much further, and I was very relieved to see the feed station at the end of that section of trail.

The last part of the race was the real mind game. The Eppens made a hard move on the last gravel road. We were just flying and they were riding away from us. Steve Tilford almost got away and for a second I thought we'd blown it, but Ian and Jeff kept them close and I finished it off as we turned into the woods one last time. Here, we all rode slowly, pacing ourselves for one final onslaught of attacks. Patiently, I sat behind Steve and recovered. On the final rocky climb, with a half mile to go. The race for the win finally began. Steve and I accelerated hard and opened up a gap. But it was short lived and Tristan flew by, leading down the ski hill into the finish area. I stayed as close as I could, we were flying down this hill as fast as we could safely go. When those guys went close against the barriers I took the outside line in a two wheeled slide, and carried my momentum into the final sprint. Steve was leading it out by I came around fast and cranked in over the line for the win.

Thanks to everyone for their support, before, during and after this race. It was a wild ride and I'm so happy I could pull it off. This race is really important in this neck of the woods. Tristan came up to me before the start and said "I'm nervous, I don't even get nervous for NORBA Nationals!" There's just something about a race with 1800 other riders in some remote corner of Wisconsin.

I'll have more photos and maybe some video up later, but I need to get back to work!

Posted: Mon - September 19, 2005 at 08:50 AM