I biked forty miles today, what did you do?

Dear reader,

It's been a couple weeks since last I took time to write in my blog, and I hope you haven't given up on my writings as a source of entertainment. School comes first, I guess...or my girlfriend, who will be moving to California on Monday. Silly girlfriend...

She can't distract me here, though, because I'm two hundred seventy miles away from her right now in God's Country...back in the Northwoods, at Cable, WI. Along with three of my other Red Hawk Teammates, I road in the Chequamegon Fat Tire 40 mountain bike race, a forty mile event of quite some distinction in the realm of the sport

We drove up to Cable yesterday mid-afternoon and established our headquarters at our bad-ass townhouse of Valhalla #12, a four bedroom beauty with a kitchen, fireplace, and electric frog the ribbits when you walk by. Somehow, by the grace of God, this place has wireless, which I don't understand because my home in Eagle River is more urban (if you can say that), and our internet connection depends on how hard the wind is blowing on a given day.

Saturday morning found us slowly getting moving to head over to Hayward, where the race actually started. We packed our things, checked it twice, and nonetheless I left with the nagging feeling of having forgotten something. Which turned out to be true, for when we arrived I realized that I, Asthma Boy, had left my inhaler on the bathroom counter. Score. Fortunately Christa brought her canister of breath-giving goodness with her, and I was able to ride in full respiration thanks to her forsight. She, on the other hand, almost ran out of air half-way through. Thanks for taking it for the team, girl ;)

The start of the race was pretty sweet....1700 bikes all rolling out at once through downtown Hayward is quite the spectacle. But I have to say...the end of the race was so much better. Suddenly you pop out of the woods, and there's a wide open field sloping down a big hill, and there's thousands of people all around the chute, milling about, cheering, taking pictures, and having a good time. It's the feeling of having accomplished a feat of physical fitness and endurance. I never expected to be able to do something, and I can't explain how rewarding it feels to have done this. I'm stoked.

The race in and of itself was surprisingly uneventful...it involved a lot, a lot of pedaling, lots of hill climbing, and was pretty damp. Mother nature decided it was time to water the lawn, I guess, and it drizzled off and on throughout the day. I took one spectacular fall today...I was flying down a dirt road, hit a patch of loose sand, and lost control. My bike careened wildly from side to side until finally it hit critical mass and discharged me over the handlebars. Fortunately the same soft earth that grabbed my front wheel kept me from having an uncomfortable landing, so I collected myself and went back on my merry way.

All right, that's it for today. I'm exhausted! I send my best regards. Oh yeah, I finished 1193, for those of you who care, at a little over three and half hours. Not too bad :)

Respect,
Jon