Levis Trow Disaster

Levis Trow went very poorly relatively this post will probably end up lasting longer. First thing though is I want to thank my parents for making the trip seven hours up and back to Wisconsin and helping me out with everything.

I was happy to see some friends up at the race: Charlie, Cale, Katy, Shockey, Scott. That was about the best part of it for me. I love riding the trails... I had less of a good time racing on the trails. I got to the race and found out the the race details were significantly different than what I had thought; seven, 14 mile laps vs four, 24 mile laps. That messed with my psychy a little because a 14 mile lap meant that this was set-up more in a regular xc race format just with four times the distance. The start was a short run to the bikes and take-off down some double track. Rode at a pretty fast pace for the first five or six miles and hit some sand. Lots of sand, deep sand, rocks, roots, on the trails; more than I had remembered. I realized that I was riding much harder than I needed to ride to keep my average pace where I thought I needed it to finish, so I backed off and dropped from the leaders. I had to walk climbs the first lap. This decided my gearing for Dakota 5-0. I haven't been on my mountain bike for more than ten miles at one time on actual singletrack since the Chequamegon 100, so I am going to just drop to a 32x20 and be able to spin more. It'll be a good test to try it at Levis again at least one more time this year. Either way, walking sometimes was fine. The race started at 8am and was nice a nice temp. at the start, but you could tell it was warming up quickly. About nine miles in I tried stepping up some rocks between two trees. Fail. Endo and landed on my less-good shoulder. Broke my GPS off the bar. Took me a second to regather myself, and kinda start walking up the hill. Got passed a lot, thought I was close to last. Started riding again and was having trouble holding onto my handlebar with my left hand. I wrecked some more. Finished the first lap. Second lap was more of the same with less dramatic wrecks, and actually more on bike climbing. Ate some food and sat in a chair talking to Shockey, Mom, and Dad. Decided to roll out for a third lap and after riding for a while I got on the Yellow Jacket trail. Super rooty and rough and I had nothing left. I got passed by the Mountain bike patrol guy, and pulled the plug. I rode xc ski trails back to the start/finish area and dropped the bike at 32 miles of a proposed 100. Epic fail. Had a sandwich and a beer with Ben and Scotty. I was pretty dominated, the trails were much more ruthless than I had remembered. I think maybe the Gnomefest aura makes it easier to climb and makes the trails smoother. Rode home pretty bummed out about my first non-weather related dnf. I guess it is just part of the deal, and you can't be on every day. Mix that with not getting the normal push from friends due to proximity or injury, and lack of access to trail systems; again, whether due to weather or trail condition.
It's all good now. I have Gravel Worlds to focus for, I had decided that before this race and maybe that influenced my racing today... I dunno. Some things, however, did work out very well.
What worked:

• Mom and Dad supplying water, food, and Agent care. Agent likes bike races.

• Q7 clothes were great. My backside was probably the freshest part of my body when I quit, good chamois.

• The bike worked well. The front end began to creak like crazy after the good wreck on the first lap and was a little bit sketchy. I took it apart after the race and inspected things, which all checked out, but I am very aware of it.

• Oakley Jawbones looked good and felt good. They are my favorite glasses of all time. The new orange/bassboat blue sparkle combination looked better than I did.

• Hanging out with Shockey and Scotty, both out due to injury: a bum knee and a gash on an arm that is pretty brutal... 25 stitches or something.

Now time for Ragbrai and HOPEFULLY a Salsa frame before I go so I could at least build it there. I'd be jazzed to try and make a small gravel route each day from whatever town I'm in into the end town. I heard today that Aaron and Nate are coming up for a couple days, so that is good, and Larue is going to be around which is always good. Then three weeks to train on gravel and try to have fun doing it. I think the mountain bike may just get put away for a bit. I have even considered riding the La Cruz at the Mullet Classic... Kyle Sedore did it a couple years ago so I may give it a shot.