Elk River

Saturday night a tornado was spotted over the Hillside Trail in Elk River which was to be hosting the MNMBS race on Sunday.  Later that night, the race director asked anyone with a chainsaw and the ability to pull trees off the trail to show up at 5:00 a.m.  Amazingly, the trees were removed and the trail was ready to go with no delays.  Sport class started at 11:00 a.m. and consisted of two "short" laps with a total distance of 15.5 miles.  The trail has no large climbs but has enough variation to include 1,000 feet per climbing per lap.  The weather was ideal with temps in the low 80s and humidity a non issue.  The race started well with an extended prologue.  I entered the woods behind a relatively slow rider.  I tried to be patient but there were other riders on my tail so I began to press him.  Not long afterward, he must have caught a root as he launched into a full superman at 25+ mph.  He hit pretty hard but seemed to be OK.  My only thought as I continued down the trail was "so that's what it looks like!"  I ended up completing a very slow first lap at 49+ minutes.  I am glad that I did because the final lap was a killer.  I can safely say I left nothing on the trail and was very happy once it as over.  I finished in 7th place (1:31:12) out of 16 riders in the 40-44 group which is by far my best finish of the year.  I suppose I should not be surprised as last year's Elk River was one of my best rides of the year.  I love the trail as it is constantly challenging you with climbs, technical descents, and rock gardens.  There is one area in section 2 where you can take a bit of a break but the rest of the trail you are being pushed hard.  I am learning that patience is critical at the sport level as most of the riders are technically sound.  It is amazing to me how much time you lose from a single crash as there are always people on your tail.  I suppose this is the learning part of riding bikes.  We have two weeks until Buck Hill which will allow me to do two more Thursday Night Races.  I am headed to River Falls for a ride this week as we will be there the week after Buck Hill.  Life is good and I'm just trying to get faster!!