Chequamegon 100 write up... finally

So I am slow to recap this race, but in my defense I think some people are still recovering so that is how I justify it.
We woke up around six with the race starting at seven. Luckily we were pretty well packed up the night before, because when we arrived we had enough time to get our bikes out of the car and deliver our drop bags to the truck. I got to chat with Marty from Prairie Peddler for about 15 seconds before Joe Mieser, race coordinator, took off down the road and beckoned for us to follow. After a quick race briefing the race was on. We took off down a paved road before hitting some double-wide grassy trails with singletrack mixed in for short bits. A steep climb, that had Brian Fuhrman, Matt Braun, and myself running up the side while geared guys spun, seperated the group a bit. I found myself falling off the back of the front group and deciding that there was no point of killing myself trying to hang on. I rode a few miles by myself until on a stretch of xc ski trails before meeting up with a group of 15 or so in the first sustained stretch of singletrack. The pace felt good, everyone was riding well and allowing passes when needed. Before I knew it, we were 20 miles in and at the first check point. I felt great and didn't need any water so Matt, whom I recognized from Transiowa, and I decided to make it a very quick stop and headed out with three others. We worked through the next 5-10 miles of trail before picking up Mr. Charlie Farrow and a couple others on the xc ski trails. This group was awesome. With Charlie's regular "You look strong today.", and power positive thinking we held what I thought was a really good pace. Cruising through singletrack and up and down the gravel road stretches I began to get really comfortable...too comfortable apparently because I began to rely too heavily on other people's navigational skills. I want to make it clear that I am not blaming anyone for the next hour of wrong turns, trail guesses, and total lack of direction besides myself. I thought that at mile 46 we were supposed to turn, but I wasn't going to argue with people who "knew the trail". After much debating, riding, more debating, standing...lots of standing, a gentleman named Aaron said he KNEW the trail would get us to the Namekegon Town Hall, which was the sight of the drop bags. My response was, "I don't care if it is road, gravel, or singletrack, if you guarantee you can get me there, I will follow." He guaranteed and I followed, but the group had totally split apart and morale wasn't as high as it had once been. Rolling into the checkpoint with 61 miles instead of 55 wasn't as bad as I was prepared for. Unfortunately, I saw many of the leaders riding past me as I took the trail into town hall, that we were supposed to take out. I ate my jerky, drank a bottle of water, had a cookie, some mixed fruit, and generally just gathered myself. Nick showed up only about five or ten minutes behind me, and I began to consider waiting for him and just riding together. Then from beside me a "hey" came and there was Matt standing straddling his bike. He asked, "Are you about to head out?" All I could think to say was, "Whenever you're ready." We took off hoping for 40 more miles of singletrack, and knowing that there could possibly a lot more.