Strada Fango recap…

…more than a week later, I’ve finally recovered from all that was the 60 mile spring classic the Strada Fango.

The race organized just a month or more out out from the Apr 29th start went off seemingly without a hitch.  Headed up by Noah Michaelsen & crew of volunteers, through & around the New Auburn forests, countryside.  Rolling hills, rocky 4 wheeler trails, single track, gravel roads & a climb up “Mt Flambeau”?

A late start from home, after our dogs had a run in with a porcupine carcass, a had me making the 130mile drive in record time.  (More on the porcupine carcass story later…)

After a phone call & some txt messages, the host was gracious enough to hold things up an extra 5-10minutes, enough for me to unpack the bike, strap on the camel back & get to the start line.   What appeared to be over 50 riders on Mt bikes and ‘cross bikes rolled off the start for what would be a 4+hr effort.

Being a somewhat informal event, course markings where of ribbon  tapings at critical junctions (& a backup map).   While this made the event manageable in setup, it was effective enough in getting riders navigated through unfamiliar terrain & surroundings.

The initial miles with Noah taking the lead was a moderate, which having no warmup I really appreciated.   It wasn’t until Todd Mcfadden, who we left at the start had caught up and went to the front did things pick up and the parts of the group started to break apart like a meteor entering the earth’s atmosphere.  With myself, Nate Lillie adding in some pulls, it was soon it was down to 8, then ultimately five, with Kevin Roytek and Trevor Koss making the cut. 

It continued that way for the first half hour of the race.  Todd continued to push things especially when the rocky terrain of the 4 wheeler trails gave the advantage to his full suspension 26” Trek Top Fuel.  Trevor would stay pretty close, with Nate & I following.  Kevin would drop just a bit off the pace after a few climbs. 

An hour into the race, Nate had dropped back to Kevin and it was just Trevor, myself & Todd with a minute or more lead.  My day was quickly set to change… after a sandy downhill, I shifted on a rocky section and somehow my chain dropped.  Ugh!  In disbelief initially I see Trevor & Todd roll away, thinking “Man!  I do not want to expend the energy necessary right now to catch those guys.”   The chain didn’t hook up as I was rolling up the hill, so I came to a dead stop, had to dismount and put it on. 

So the chase was on to the two rabbits that had disappear into the forests, around each corner & turn I kept hoping I start to see them.  After 5 or 10 minutes of this I finally caught sight of them & pushed it over a large rocky section and being less than  30yds back, I heard the unmistakable “psssssst”, my rear tire had taken a hit & it was losing air. 

It was then I was lamenting not getting around to putting a followup cup of Stan’s sealant.   Generally I like to do the initial tubeless sealing of tires with CaffeLatex sealant (I like better how it takes care of the small air leaks), but then followup with Stans which does a better job of sealing puncture. 

Within a 100 yards I knew the sealant wasn’t taking.  I’d caught up to Trevor & Todd by then & told them I’d flatted.  That pretty much “sealed” my fate for the day.  I got off the bike started to use the hand pump, in hopes the hole would eventually seal.  (I really dislike putting in tubes if there’s anyway I can without doing it I will)  So 20minutes & a lot of racers go buy, Brian Kelley, Noah, and many other each offer up some help, before I finally decide to pull out the tube and get going again.  Thanks to two guys in particular as I needed an extra patch and a better working pump to finish the job (thanks again, good trail karma out to you).

After that I was on a mission to make it a good hard training effort and see if I could catch anyone as I think every last person had passed me by then.

Though I did catch a few guys from time time to time, there wasn’t going to be a chance of seeing Trevor, Todd, Nate or Kevin again.

The hours and scenery went by not without challenges or frustration that comes from a race that doesn’t go your way and I rolled into the finish about 4 1/2hrs after starting.

After the race, was probably the best part of it to catch up with a lot of guys I’d not seen in several months & get to meet some new faces.  Not to mention hearing other stories of how the race played out for  some of the other racers. 

Definitely a good time had, sure appreciate Noah & all the parties involved in putting it together.  Looking forward to give it a go again next year.