Woke up to dry pavement outside the house. I’m thinking SWEET. Get myself cleaned up, grab a little chow and go to put my bike it the car. It’s friggin pouring outside. Not so sweet. Well, thats life. Boogie over to Bill’s to convoy to the race. Erik, Mike C, Bill and I are rolling at 4:45. It rains more on than off all the way to Snelling. We pulled into the park around 6:30 or so. Mark, Sandra, RB and Bas all show up in short order. Thomas and Bryan roll in a little while later. Great the gang’s all here. We all do are thing and get prepped to do battle. Rain had pretty much stopped by the time I hopped on my trainer. 20 minutes just to let my legs know we aren’t at home on the couch. Then we mosey on over to the start area. Sandra was nice enough to take my rain cape for me. Glad I did’t wear that. It would have been way to warm.
We had a full field of 100 for the 4’s. As the race official went over the details she mentioned that their was water on the course. OK that’s life. Yadda Yadda feed zone blah blah 100 yds 12 inches deep. Whoah Whoah WTF. Turns out we had to ford “Lake Snelling” . So, multiple water crossing, some of it flowing, mud and sand. Pretty sure they said Road Race not Cyclocross. This should be very interesting.
We roll at or very close to the posted start time of 8:20. A 3 mile neutral zone took us to the FULLY CLOSED course. That was sweet. Right up the feed zone down the other side a little left a little right and boom we are at the lake. Bait shop is on the right, boat launch is on the left. It wasn’t to bad on lap one. The group was slow to get a feel for the water. I was actually more worried about the debris on both sides of the water. Lots of water!! 2 or 3 spots where the road was fully under and to many huge puddles to count. Throw in the mud, gravel and junk on the road and it was puncute galore. I’d say people who got flats had to number over a hundred. The first lap went by quick. Second and third laps a bit slower but still a decent pace. Typically you would get a surge out of the turns and water crossings. Nothing crazy. I was feeling well and enjoying myself. The rollers were pretty mellow and I could stay in the saddle when we went up them. I have to say for such an all around crappy day the 4’s played very well together. Not to many close calls and everyone seemed to want to stay safe. I think it was on lap three in the fast downhill section we came upon a crash. Pretty sure it was a lady who went down. Heard after the race she had to be medivac’ed out. Hope she is doing ok. As we finished lap 4 we found out that a break had gone up the road and had about a minute on us. So pace picked up a bit. No problem right. Wrong! After the 4th time across the pond I started to feel the front of my lower leg locking up. Weird, that’s a new one. I tried to baby it for about a half a lap but eventually I just couldn’t put the power down to stay with the bunch. Nuts! I guess the cold water and wind on my exposed lower legs was a bad thing. So time for the looooong ride home. Stopped on the way back to help Mick from Specialized with a flat. We were riding back together when I spot Bas. He had a flat and was waiting for a lift back. Get back to the park and almost everyone is there. WOW, I must really be slow. Well not that slow. Great job Thomas, Gonzalo, Mark and Erik on finishing. Was not a walk in the park. Was really great to see so many Team Fremont people out there. I think it was Roy’s first race as a team member. Next up Merco Foothills RR next weekend. Rain is forecasted. Ah Crap here we go again.
On another note. The new kit is quite nice. Well not as nice as it was 24 hours ago. Most of the stains came out. Garry,RB and others great job. Looks great and thanks for not going all white on the bibs.
Mike Baxter