Ever get those times in life where you get a bunch of work & obligations behind you and it coincides with alot of fun & exciting stuff going on in life? I couldn't be happier now that it's the tail end of the 2nd week in August.
Got the annual audit behind us at work, it went exceedingly well. Softball season is at it's climax - there's essentially a 5 way tie for first place each of the teams have 12-2 records - it all boils down to a bunch of head to head games for those teams next Monday & Tuesday. It's pretty exciting our team (5th Qtr/Dairy Queen)is in the drivers seat if we win when it comes to any tiebreaking factors for the league championship. I'm having my highest batting average season ever & am in a 2nd place tie for lead triples. In that category where most of the guys are half my age it's pretty cool (but also sad at the same time how too many guys my age let themselves go & don't maintain their speed/fitness to stay competative.)
Then to top everything off there's a couple MTB races this weekend!! Yoo-hoo! Calumet has their Deer Chase Aug 15th, a 27 mile mostly singletrack race. Flat, generally well laid out and challenging to the point you put speed into it. Hammered it last year with Jeff Juntti. Missing the "W" by .22seconds.... note to self: in a sprint finish remember to lock out the fork. But I gotta hand it to Jeff, he deserved it. Not to often was I able to get to the front as ge drove it hard all race long. I would have almost felt guilty winning. However this year I can't say I'll necessarily be feeling so charitable. From the sounds of it could be an even stronger more competative field this year. I guessing (perhaps hoping) 2nd place O2S guy Mike Anderson finds the 370mile drive from Alpena to be too far. In which case it could be a wild shooting match for a bunch of characters, Jeff J.,Tom Carpenter ('09 Miner's revenge winner) & Ty Gauthier, who placed 10th&11th last year but had great O2S races. Maybe even Jesse Bell - all of the UP. Myself, Paul Belknap, Bart Rodberg and whoever else that crosses the border from WI & MN. All one can do is get in the mix, give it a go, keep the mechanical issues out of the equation and see what comes of it. As a dad however I gotta admit I'm almost more excited about my little guy Marshall being able to race here -- last year he did the 3 mile race on the Trek Jet on training wheels finishing way far behind everyone. This year it's significantly different for him & he should really see a big improvement.
Provided that goes well... or terrible. There's always the WORS River Falls Border Battle Sunday -- I hear the course is great so that's always tempting and as a "bragging rights" race. It'd be great to help set the record straight as to what state (WI or MN) has the faster MT bikers.
Well, gotta wash up & prep the bikes -- hopefully some good race updates to follow soon.
1 comment:
It was nice to meet you out on the trail and I enjoyed talking to you after the race. Thanks for the encouragement. It took awhile but I think we both learned that mechanicals and flats are part of Mtn. Bike racing. I look forward to seeing you in Calumet.
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