Keweenaw Chain Drive

Courtesy of XMATIC

The Keweenaw Chain Drive has done a spectacular job creating a mountain bike event. Combined with a great town and awesome trails the race is set up for sure success. It has become one of my most favorite weekends of the year.

Erin and I were adopted by the Peariso family and the Adventure 212 crew for the weekend. Along with the McFaddens (Chain Drive regulars), my teammate Ron Williams, and our new friend Ann we had incredible company for the weekend. We all met up on Friday and pre-ride the course, more goofing around, on Aunt Flow and the River Trail. We did have enough of an attention span to realize the course was running backwards this year and also picked out a few spots to one up Brian M. from his forever reign of the top step here.

Courtesy of XMATIC

As mentioned, the race was run backwards. For the most part you would never know because it was just as fun always keeping us smiling. Not many trails can be run both ways and have as much flow as the KCD trails. The event organizers did an incredible job with the changes. Oh the race, we did race. But another great feature I love about the KCD is I never feel like I'm racing. It hurts, we go fast, we compete, but I enjoy the ride just as much as the race. It was almost an identical replay of last year on the start but this time around it was Brian that pushed the start pace rather than me. I wanted the cemetery KOM but did not match the jump the others had. I went into the single track 4th wheel behind Jordan W. and Pete K. Jordan dropped a chain and soon after I went around Pete to bridge to Brian. Brian and I tempo'd the first few miles and created a gap but soon after Pete bridged back with a great effort and then Jordan and Chris bridged just as the single track started. Things became quite uneventful for awhile as I rode on the front just allowing the trails to be enjoyed.

Courtesy of XMATIC

Just over Midway Brian switched to the front and added some juice to the pace. Jordan and I stuck for the 20 plus minute attack!! I told him that 2 minutes more and he would have had me ;) He mellowed again until 3 miles left. Just as we crossed the river Brian made another jump and off he went not to be seen again. I didn't make much attempt to chase it knowing I couldn't. I allowed Jordan to come around and figured I'd stay steady maybe to slowly bring it back during the last 2 mile climb. It was not in the cards and I stayed in my 3rd spot to the finish. Cooked but not fried. It was so much fun this year and I'm so glad I'm learning to smile during races and have fun. The KCD keeps the grassroots in all of us and that is where we all started.

"Single Speed" - WORS #3 Wausau

I've never been tempted to ride a single speed despite hearing that once you ride one you will want one. My gears are good to me and I like them. I'm not sure the last time a single speeder won a big race showing me that gears are worth it for the big shows. Well, besides Lalonde at the Cheq 40! But lets not get crazy here and compare anyone to that single speed phenom. He is a rare exception to speed without gears. He may be faster with no gears than he is with gears. Even his win at a Triple Crown doesn't draw my interest but last weekends race I felt as if I experienced my first single speed and I don't like it.

The Red Eye Rendezvous was giving us our 3rd weekend in a row of WORS action. A good city, a great course, and better company makes it easy to gear up 3 weekends in a row. We had a full team on hand and it is a nice treat when we can all pre-ride together, have dinner, and enjoy the other half of the sport.....Comradery. The weather even treated us to a near perfect day of sunshine and 60's.

I was a bit off from the beginning on race day when I lost my number plate, started my warm up late, and ate my bar too close to competition. My prep is as important as my race so it was not a good start for me even though I did fine my number and warm-up was had just not at the level I prefer. The start was good. I grabbed the whole shot into the first few turns without a problem. I settled until the single track and made my way to the top 5 for the first section. The course favors aggression as we do so much two track between single track it pays off at the end of the day to be upfront as much as you can. I did this well on the first lap but wasn't so successful on lap 2. I yo-yo ed a bit and was worked over catching back on. Not having a lot in reserve on the day these little efforts were crucial.

Lap 3 we pulled around in one big lead group with about 7 guys. Nobody really played much ball on the two track and we all battled for the single track. That was until Tristan had seen enough and hammered the pace on the front side climb. He hit it and I didn't react.. My mind was made up at that point from other efforts I wasn't going to burn another match. I figured steady would pull me along the rest of the day. That is when my bike felt like a single speed. No fast gears and no slow gears. Just 1 "go steady" gear. This wasn't a terrible thing but for the final 2 laps I had what I had. There was no go under and no going over just as I believe a single speed would feel like... Then again I've never ridden one so how would I know. :)

All in all, a good day for riding a physical and mental single speed. I rolled in 7th place at 2 1/2 minutes behind the leaders. All was made happy when I found out my teammate, Cooper Dendel, took her first WORS and pro win. What a huge accomplishment for her, our team, and the UP!! Here is to much more success Coop! We all celebrated appropriately with celebratory burritos.