Glocester Grind 2013 Race Recap

Well, the 2013 Glocester Grind is in the books.  The chatter on the Interwebs before the race was all about how dry it was going to be compared to years past.  Last year was a deluge of biblical proportions the day before the race.  It was so crazy muddy.  Today should really probably have been named the Gobi Grind.

So I woke up at 5:30 this morning as I've been doing for the several weeks.  My god-damned cat can't seem to kill those flippin', squawking blue jays.   Anyhow, I somehow managed to drift in and out of sleep for another two hours, which is unheard of.

Out of bed at 7:30 am.  Rested and ready.  Feeling like a million bucks. 

I decided to get to the race earlier today and doing a full lap pre-ride.    Great idea!  I'd know the shape the course was in and warm up the ol' gams.  Today, I was a race genius.  Only problem was once I arrived I learned that they weren't allowing folks to pre-ride because the novices were already on the course.  Doh!

Speaking of which though, I did catch the eensiest-weensiest glimpse of Max Beaupre heading in for his race.  He had two laps in the novice category and we were all hoping for good things for him.  He's been riding crazy strong.  Mad strong.  Mad Max.

One thing I noticed in the parking lot is that I'm definitely in the right sport.

It's like two whole worlds there, what with the eight Elements and all.  For a minute I thought I was in Burlington, VT.  Geesh.

Another thing that was pretty cool was the number of people I knew racing Glocester.  It's stupid close to my house.  Less than 12 miles as the crow flies, but since I'm not a crow, it was more like 17 miles.  Still exponentially better than my next race in NH, 121 miles away.  This close to home, all the racers I knew were out - Potter, Beaupre (x2), Segenchuk, Spring, Modig, Dunn, Beriau, Simoes, Chandler, Allen, Nydam, Miranda and all sorts of other racers I've gotten to know as of late.  Even Donnie Dauphinais was there.  I couldn't turn around without saying hi to someone.

Pre-race Karen Potter

Pre-race John Robertson

Pre-race Jim Nydam

Brian and I grabbing some pointers from Max after he grabs first.

So I happened to be around when the racers meeting went off and stayed to listen.  Along with at least six other people.  There was nothing new to hear.  Sport and Expert, three laps.  Elites, four.  Drier than usual.  Still some muddy spots.

Donnie attentively listens to the pre-race meeting.  Not really.

After the racers meeting, I was able to hand the camera over to Cori to capture all of the action.  She was happy to have Regis Murphy (Chandler's better half) to hang around with for the duration of the race.

At 11 am, we began to queue up.  And literally before I knew what was going on, someone said go.  And we were off.  The course was the same as last year, riding clockwise for what we were told was 5.35 miles per lap.  I was measuring 4.75 on the GPS, so 5.35 wheel-measured seems likely.

Expert Master Start (Beaupre and Nydam)

Sport Vet II Start (that's me, if you wait long enough)

Matt Chandler start - he looks slower because it's a still photo.

Unlike some other races, this course heads straight into some rooty, rutted trail.  Not a roadie course.  Not a cross course.  A real mountain bike course.  Less the mountain, of course.  What the course designers missed in elevation, they made up for in rocks, roots and mud.

Oh, remember that Gobi Grind comment earlier.  Never mind about the Gobi Grind.  I've often heard Jay Peak was in its own climate zone.  Jay is not alone.  Apparently it rained 40 days and 40 nights in Glocester leading up to the race.  At least that is how muddy it was.  Really?

The course starts twisting and turning through a pine forest.  Tricky roots, but rideable.  I was, as per my custom, still a little slow out of the gate.  Maybe 8th of 16 into the woods, but within the first 1/4 mile had gotten by someone who had dabbed on the roots.  Stupid sport racer!  I was feeling great.  Until I slipped on a root maybe 30 seconds later.  Stupid sport racer!

Really though, I was quickly falling into a solid pace and riding some solid technical.  Early on I did get caught up following another guy who took a turn wide and botched it.  Some jerk got by on the left.  I think he was with ZZ Top.  Oh wait, it was Brian Spring. 

I regained that position pretty soon after and then came up to the bridge that last year was before the big winding mud pit.  This year the bridge was not so great.  It was a pair of parallel planks, except they were anything but intact at the entrance, trying to force wheels into a crack up the middle.  I made it across the first two times and got caught up my third lap.  After the bridge though, the trail just hit a little of the omnipresent mud before veering off last year's course and around the majority of the mud.

Cori was at her tried and true photo shoot place as I came up to the sharp rock climb.  This year, without rain having made the roots raking the rock unrideable, I climbed up and over with the greatest of ease.

Climb stupid sport rider, climb!

By the time I'd finished the first half lap, I had gained a handful of spots and was comfortably tailing Colin Johannen.  As it turned out, Colin and I spent a fair share of the day together.  Quite nice actually.  He's pretty personable for a redhead.

That first half had a number of tricky rock gardens.  Big rocks with a little space between them.  Often not big enough to get a wheel through.  Some tried to deceive you into fitting your wheel through, but if you looked a little more carefully, you'd see you couldn't fit a wheel and a derailleur through.  So you went over if you could, around if you couldn't go over and walked if all else failed.

Speaking of walking, I was really happy with my hike-a-bike sections today. I grabbed the bike by the rear shock and ran most of these places.  While I've been doing a fair share of trail running, I've been admittedly remiss in doing it in Shimano shoes, carrying a 30 pound bike through mud pits. I think I'll practice more for that next year.

The second half of the course was tougher than the first.  Early on there is a stream crossing with a bridge to the left side, but I learned last year from Pete Dunn that the line was through the stream on the right.  The bridge was a trap.  The on/off bridge access was waiting to throw you from your bike.  I streamed it all three laps. 

The second half also included numerous other rock gardens and crazy mud pits.  There was one unavoidable mud pit which sprayed mud everywhere.  I was coated up to the bottom of my bike shorts and then some.  The best was when you finally hit dry ground and picked up some speed and the mud started flying off your wheels EVERYWHERE.  You quickly learned to breathe through your nose in these spots.

As always, the bridge dropping you into the mud pit was waiting for us all three laps.  Here's a video I took after I had finished up.  It's a little funny. Unless you're Cait Dooley.  But don't worry about her.  She was fine.

And right after that was a mud pit.

Followed by another mud pit leading into a stream crossing.

Liz Chabot Allen hits it with wild abandon.

 After that a quick trip back to the start/finish and then out for another lap.

One down.

I had lost Colin somewhere in the second lap, but caught up to him again heading through the first half of the second lap.  I kept catching glimpses of him.  When I finally caught up to him he was cursing like a sailor.  The rock garden was having a little fun with him for a few minutes.  I got by again for a little bit a few minutes later, but that pass was short-lived. Colin was riding his new Hei-Hei like a rock star.

I also kept catching glimpses of John Robertson somewhere behind me.  Not sure how close though.  

I passed a couple of guys lap #2, but was only sure one was in my group.  #218 - Sean Godley.  It's hard to look back at number plates to see if other folks are in your group. After I had gotten by Sean, I passed Colin again in the expansive clear cut region as he was tightening his handlebars.  Before I was very far both he and Sean were chasing though and I was getting worried.  I held Sean off and started gapping on him, but wasn't long before Colin was back by me again.

The last lap was pretty uneventful.  I was riding alone a lot more, had changed places back and forth with Colin one more time, but lost him on the clear cut never to be seen again.

I finished the three laps in 1:44:38, good enough for sixth place, or so I thought.  I caught up with some other folks and took in their experiences on the course.  All positive.  Beaupre had crashed pretty hard, tearing his knee up pretty good, but still had a great race.

Some of the Bums representing at the Grind.

When they posted the paper results I heard the guy who took first in my age group saying that he should have been Vet I (30 - 39 years old).  That moved me up into fifth.  For my third fifth place finish this year.  I was 4:45 out of first, 1:35 per lap.  I was pretty happy with that.

Lots of folks I knew did great.  Here are the results from Sport/Expert/Elite.

All in all, another great day at the Grind.  But not dry.  If cleanliness is next to godliness, I'm pretty sure I was riding with the devil.  I was not clean in so many ways.

Next up?  Pinnacle Challenge on Father's Day.  And a 5K next weekend in Waterloo, NY, my hometown and birthplace of Memorial Day.

Cunningham Park, Queens, NY

When I think mountain biking, I think Queens, right?  Um, no. For me, Queens elicits images of endless blocks of houses filled with Bunkers and Meatheads.

Little did I know.

I spent last week in Garden City, NY, on business and brought my mountain bike with me with the hope of locating something akin to mountain biking in Long Island.  The way I figured it, mountain bikers are the best people in the world, so it stands to reason Long Island mountain bikers are the best people in Long Island.  I should get with them. 

With almost no searching, I came across the Concerned Long Island Mountain Bikers (CLIMB) website.  And before I knew it, I had SO MANY mountain bike trails at my disposal. 

Having arrived on the Island Monday and worked the afternoon and still not checked in to the hotel, I decided to ride the closest place I could find. And that was Cunningham Park in Queens.

I was, as I think I may have already expressed, a little circumspect.  Queens?  Mountain biking?  No!  I left the office, fought traffic for 40 minutes to get 10 miles and found myself at Cunningham Park.  I was parked along the street with ball fields all around.  Hmm?  I recall the website mentioned black diamonds.  Did they mean baseball diamonds?  Crazy Long Islanders!

So I stripped in my Element, as is my wont.  Less good idea in Queens than in Sutton.  Seems to be more pedestrian traffic trying to sneak a peek.  Having successfully maintained my privacy, I pulled my Gary Fisher Hi-Fi from my car and started riding up the sidewalk with a map tucked in my spandex.

I looked here.  I looked there.  Everywhere.  But was having a hell of a time finding a trail.  The park was bisected in on direction by 73rd Ave and the other way by the Clearview Expressway.  Poking around was not working, so against my better man-stincts, I swallowed my pride and pulled out the map.  After consulting some feller who had no idea about any mountain biking trails, I hit him up for basic directions to get a handle on the map.  Knowing the direction of the LIE, I now had enough reference points to figure out the map and was off. 

If you go, the answer is to park as close to the intersection of 210th St and 67th Ave.  That is the trailhead.

The Promised Land

I met up with a guy from Philly as I was about to head in. He had just finished up riding, but explained the layout.  Go in and take the first left.  It's a directional trail, so that was really the only option.  He told me the trail would be blue, but wherever I saw a black diamond, I should take it and it would go through some cool terrain before dropping me right back on the blue.  So easy even Bryan Quach could ride it without getting lost.

And I was off.  The trail was firm, hard-packed dirt.  Super firm, super grippy.  It was immediately obvious countless tires had been over it. And that it might be the best maintained trail system I've ever ridden.  It kind of felt like going to the zoo.  Or Disney.  Where everything looks real.  But you know it's man-made.  Lots of obstacles.  All rideable.

 

The course twisted and turned, making great use of limited space.  And the black diamond offshoots were tons of fun.  They were challenging without being impossible.  Flowy and fast with some log piles -- some of which were optional, others which weren't.  About halfway through the east side loop, I came across a wide open area with a whole mess of dirt jumps and a nice skinny up the middle.

After this the trail headed on along the Clearview, often coming within 10 - 20 yards of the nutzo traffic.  While you wouldn't think it relaxing riding almost in rush hour traffic, it was somehow very peaceful, knowing it was right there and I was right where I was.  I passed by a pedestrian overpass arching the Clearview as the trail seemed to keep going on the east side.  A lot more great stuff.  Strategically placed logs and obstacles that made you want to go back and hit them again.  Not bony.  Not too rooty.  Just some solid mountain biking.  

The trail, after about three miles, came back to the beginning.  I still had some daylight to burn so I hit it again with an eye on crossing the pedestrian bridge over the Clearview.  I cruised through the first half of the east side, this time making much better time and enjoying hitting it at speed. 

I crossed over the Clearview, stopping to gaze down at the traffic and quickly moving on to regain my hidden utopia.  The west side was immediately climbier.  And there were finally some rocks.  Ah, more my style.  Less than a mile in, I saw my car through the woods.  I can't believe I had no idea the trails were right in front of me when I was in my car.  Amazing! 

I was getting through some pretty techy stuff.  Roots, rocks and trees forcing my line as I went, but getting through it all.  After a particularly hilly section, I cruised down a hill and by a tree which reminded me I was in Long Island.

There were a few more cool obstacles along the west side, including this piece of awesomeness. 

And before I knew what happened, I came out at the craziest looking dirt jump area I've ever seen.

I looked at it.  I thought about me.  Then I moved on to continue on the singletrack.  Within a mile or two I was back to the car with almost zero daylight to spare.

9.90 miles on the Garmin.  I would have gone in and ridden it all over again.  It was that fun!

Bottom line, if you are ever in the area, you NEED to go to Cunningham Park in Queens, yes Queens, NY.  

Here's the Garmin track.

Woo hoo!

Weeping Willow 2013 Race Recap

Well, another Weeping Willow is in the books.  For me, that book was a little longer than I wanted it.

I was away the week leading into the race on a bit o' business, but managed to get a little riding in preparation.  After 17 days straight of riding or running, I took Friday off all together and felt as if I was in good shape.

I arrived alone around 8:20, just over an hour before my race.  My number one and number two spectators decided to sit this one out.  I'd hit some spitting rain on the way up, but nothing too bad.  The forecast was not promising though. 

As I pulled in, I was directed to park in a field that was pretty high with some sort of plant/weed.  I headed over and picked up my number and then returned to my car to get everything ready.  Still dry and it actually looked like the sun was starting to poke through.

I see a shadow!

The night before the race I had pulled my Fisher out of the car after having it in there for a week traveling with me and found the rear tire a little soft.  Not flat, just soft.  I had decided I'd put some air in it and if it was soft again the next morning, I'd change the tube.  Tubes are how we used to keep air in tires back when we used to store music on these little round, silver discs.  When I checked the tire this morning though, it was still good.  So I didn't change it. 

The course this year was different than last year and had us going in the out door.  I checked out the beginning of the course during a quick three mile warm up ride.  It went in for about 7/8 mile before getting to some singletrack, but even the singletrack wasn't too technical.  I did note some slipperiness to some of the roots and made a note to myself to ride lightly over roots not perpendicular to the trail.

After warming up I headed back to the starting area and listened to the pre-race meeting instructions.  Nothing earth-shattering.  Basically letting us know the starting order and to have fun. You know the drill.

Unlike last year, this year they let the 19 - 29 year olds out first, followed by the 30 - 39 year olds, the 40 - 49 year olds (my group) and then the masters.  As I cued up I ran into Nathan Elder on the starting line.  He's the guy who always seemed to beat me by a place or two last year.  Spoiler alert: he did not beat me by a place or two this year!

After watching the first two age groups go off, we were up to the starting line.  My group was sold out at 50 riders, which is just nuts.  I was about three and a half rows back.  Not exactly pole position. 

Before I knew what was happening, we were off and pedaling.  And you could almost feel the power off the line.  It was going to be a hammerfest.  Before I knew what was going on, I'd dropped a bunch of places.

I worked to regain some places before we hit the singletrack, but to little avail.  I don't know if there were a lot of roadies signed up and killing this fast, smooth course or if maybe they all were doping or what.  Because I felt fast, but was somehow slower than everyone else. 

By the time we hit the singletrack, I was pretty deep back in the pack.  I don't know exactly how far.  And I'm not sure I wanted to know.

And we were really still in a bunch.  Like so many bananas. And it turned out that the bananas in front of me couldn't ride semi-tech.  My favorite dessert - banana slips.  I did manage to stay on my bike and gain a couple of spots, but for every time I did, there was another time that I managed to stay on my bike and just keep my place because the guy in front didn't move over.  Oh well, at least I didn't lose any places.

The first six miles of the course was just super fast.  A couple of small tech areas.  And still no rain. Slippy was becoming grippy. Even the roots.  We were still grouped up pretty tight, but I was definitely gaining some places and was pretty sure I was getting by some 30 - 39 year olds.

The only hill that was pretty tough came at mile six.  It was just over 100 feet in 4/10 miles.  It took a lot out of me, but I climbed it.  After that some fast single track and double track before heading around to the start/finish and heading out for lap number two.

Things finally started to spread out a little, but I was rarely alone.  I was starting to be overtaken by some 50+ riders.  They were all super cool and passed in places that were good for passing.  Even sometimes letting me know they were 50 - 59 age groupers.  I think that was supposed to make me feel better, although I'm not sure it did.

The second time up the hill at mile six I lost momentum and ended up walking the last little bit.  I was a little disappointed, but didn't lose any ground.  I was trying to figure out where I was and was guessing top fifteen, but hoping top ten.  I knew Colin Johannen and Nathan Elder were both in front of me. 

I finished up in a time of 1:35:44.  And took first!  Out of people racing my class from CT.  Of which I was the only one.  In reality I was eleven minutes and eighteen seconds out of first.  I was eighteenth. Seven places behind Nathan Elder.  Ugh.

I threw my bike on my car and changed up before heading back to the start finish area.  I was a little in the dumps with my placement, but cheered up quickly when I realized Baxter Brewing was there.  And giving away super duper canned beer.

Baxter Brewing Superstars!

I had a Stowaway IPA and then headed home to catch up with my family, who I hadn't still really seen in a week.  On the way I stopped at Cumby's for gas and watched some old lady with a handicap placard crash her minivan into the poles that are put there to keep her from driving right into the store.  She hit that pole hard.  I figured she, too, was disappointed with her finish at Weeping Willow.

I'm going to say I'm obviously not thrilled with my finish, but felt I rode well and still was in the top half of the class.  Going to have to pick it up for Glocester Grind this weekend.

Here's the GarminConnect map of the course.

Others had a better day on the course.  Potter took second in the womens' elite race.  Beaupre and Segenchuk took first in their respective races.

Full results here.

Battle at Burlingame 2013 Race Recap

Well, the first race in the EFTA series is in the books.  This was my first time checking out the Battle at Burlingame in Charlestown, RI.  This was also the first year I'd ever visited the park period, but the Battle was my fourth time there since January.

After figuring out that the 2:30 pm Sport start would enable me to attend both the Kentucky Derby party to which we had been invited in Westchester on Saturday and make the race start on Sunday, I signed up.

So I went to bed pretty early - midnight - for being at a party and was up and at 'em shortly after 6 am.  I herded the family into the Element and we were off to Rhode Island. 

Along the way we stopped in Greenwich, CT, for breakfast at a place called Meli Melo.  Not super traditional breakfast fare.  I had the omelet with ratatouille and parma ham. It came with a small salad and some bread.  Cori and Harry both had smoothies and croissants (Cori's chocolate, of course).  As we ate we looked out the windows at Porsches and Lambourghinis driving by.  Greenwich is pretty ritzy.  And breakfast was good, but pretty pricey, about $40 for an omelet, two croissants and two smoothies.  Yipes!

Yes! 

After breakfast we headed onward, stopping at the market just before the event venue to grab some water and a sandwich as well as some snacks for Cori and Harry to spectate by.

We pulled into the main park entrance, which is different than the other three times I'd been here.  I actually felt for a moment or two that maybe I'd somehow missed the  race.  It felt like when Shrek and Donkey showed up Duloc to find it seemingly deserted.



I thought the Battle at Burlingame was today?

As it turns out, just like in Shrek, everyone was at the melee.  We finally go down into the area near the lake and the place was teeming with sport riders preparing, experts and elites in progress and spectators galore. 

I headed over to registration with Cori and Harry and grabbed my number, using my flashy new EFTA license for the first time.  I was lucky #473, just three away from the #476 I had worn the day before at the Jog with Judy 5K in Woodstock, CT.

Max Beaupre was tooling around like he does on a teeny, tiny litttle Specialized kid's bike.  Just jumping stuff and pulling wheelies.  He had done his first Cat 3 race and won it as a 13 year old in a 13 - 18 age group.  Well done Max!

Cori met up with Beckie Beaupre with whom she would spend the bulk of the remainder of her day.  Harry went off with Jack Beaupre and that was the end of him.  So nice to have them at the race.  Spectating has the propensity to bore you something fierce, but throw a little chit-chat in and it becomes at the least tolerable and mayhaps downright pleasant.

I downed half my turkey sub and stuffed myself into my Bums kit as race time drew near.  I managed a little pre-riding around the park. Nothing technical. Just opening up the legs a bit.  I did see a few friends racing the classes before me come through the start/finish/lap area - including John Beaupre, John Modig, Karen Potter. Liz Allen and Steve Offiler.  They all looked great. Liz seemed to have some confusion as to how many laps she had left. By the time her conversation was over, I too was confused.  It was somewhere between one and two.  And probably an integer.  That narrows it down.

Potter cleaning up!

Liz Chabot Allen!

Ultimately, I saw a bunch of folks finish the expert race or just after they finished.  Modig jumped up to the 19 - 29 category again and took first.  Beaupre took second in the Expert masters race.  Potter took first and Liz Chabot Allen second in the women's elite class.  Alby took 4th in Elites.  Those guys are so fast.  Geesh.

I had initially thought my race went off at 2 pm, but as I got to the starting line and queued up, something felt weird.  Mostly because I was the only one there.  As it turns out, it started at 2:30, so I had to wait a while longer.  Which meant I had to go and rescue Cori from standing at the spot she had walked to so she didn't have to wait in the middle of the woods wondering what the hell was going on.  With my rescue mission accomplished, I tooled around a little more to bide my time.

Just before 2:30 Cori and I ran into Dan Bove.  We chatted a little.  He knew the importance of the hole shot on this one.  As it turns out, having the knowledge and doing something about it are two different things for me.

At 2:30 I headed back to the start.  There was no racer meeting to speak of.  Just a count down as each class went off.  As we lines up, I looked around and saw my cat was, as usual, ginormous.  I used all twenty fingers and toes and then couldn't count any higher.  Why can't these guys just get a sports car like a normal mid-life crisiser?

I managed to get a spot on the front row and was soon engaged in conversation with the guy next to me - Eric Olds.  He was super nice and had driven 5.5 hours from Belfast, ME, to do the race.  Five and a half hours?!?!  I knew this guy must be crazy and that I should probably get in front of him before he did something insane in front of me.

So sans much fanfare, we were off, chasing guys ten years younger then us that went off two minutes before.  The course followed up some campground roads, but quickly turned into a dried up ditch that had some trickily placed rocks that I'd heard had the propensity for chucking bikers over their handlebars.  I fell in like a good boy and took the one safe four inch wide line through the middle.

Having stayed on my bike through the first minute and a half of the race I had  big ol' smile on my face.  And then I started getting passed.  By the likes of Dan Bove, Eric Olds and John Robertson.  And they had seemed so nice.  Geesh.  They passed me like I was standing still.  I looked down and saw my tires were still moving, so I guess I wasn't standing still, just not pedaling fast enough.

The course is a mix of campground roads and singletrack.  For me, it was three laps of 5.5 miles each.  I knew I wasn't winning this race in the first five minutes, but there was a very real possibility of blowing up and losing the race.  So I settled in and paced myself.  

The course had a pretty sizable log to get over early on.  It was at the upper end of my comfort zone, but what with this being a race and all, I had at it.  With success.  Woo hoo.

A couple of miles into the course there is a left that brings you into Bridgeland.  There are seventeen bridges one after the other after the other.  And then a small breaks and three more bridges.  Most have roots interspersed between.  Some have turns in the bridges themselves.  One particularly tricky one has a 90 degree turn right before getting onto the ramp onto the bridge.  The bridges are fun, but they pretty much ensure you stay in your place while proceeding through them.

About half way through the lap there is a climb up onto a ridge that is about is tech as the course gets. It climbs up and then dips down the side a little and pulls back up top several times.  I definitely was still in a string of riders my first time through and dabbed with those dabbing before me.  As you across the ridge, you can see the riders in front of your down to your right at the bottom.  At the end of ridge, there's a tough left around a rock that tries to throw you off another rock and down off the ridge.   I found if you cut hard enough left there was another line that was far more comfortable for me.

I came off the ride and kept pushing through the singletrack.  Some super fun stuff that eventually crosses a road (with a few terrific, enthusiastic volunteers).  There were a couple more log crossings and even a full on log pyramid to get over.  Only a couple of short steeps.

33% there!

I was still feeling good toward the end of the lap when we busted back out into the campground area and hopped a few more logs before heading through the start of the race and heading out for lap #2.

I wasn't quite sure where I was for placement any more, but was feeling pretty good.  I was gaining on the technical stuff and trying to hold my ground, with some modicum of success, on the roadie stuff.  I still couldn't find Dan Bove anywhere, but whatever.

I may not have seen Dan Bove, but Cori sure did.

Somewhere on lap two I managed to pass Eric Olds. The group was definitely thinning out and I found myself alone here and there finally. Just out for a Sunday ride.  That's all.

Lap three I managed to pass another guy or two.  Up on the ridge I eked by John Robertson.  And then I was passed by someone towards the end.  I was hoping he was younger than me, but couldn't be sure.  He looked young.  But maybe he was just well-preserved.

I finished the race in 1:26:05 and took fifth.  I was very happy with that.  Dan ended up finishing in 1:24:35 and grabbing a third place podium spot.  John Robertson came in the sport behind me and Eric Olds the spot after that.  We had 23 finishers in our group and one DNF.

Here's the GarminConnect of the course.

Loved the course.  Loved the people.  Definitely would do this one again!  Next up, Weeping Willow.