3 Letters I Hate: DNF

2010 Mileage: 4475

Saturday's Mad Anthony CX Race down in Detroit was an awesome event with a great course and a descent size crowd. Too bad I didn't get to race much of it since I pinch flatted less than a mile in to my first lap. If you know cross, then you know there is no point fixing a flat so that was it for me, hence the DNF (did not finish). I was definitely disappointed (Linz can attest to this) since I had a really good start and was sitting fifth wheel and feeling great when it happened. Oh well. At least I pre-rode a couple laps because it really was one of the coolest courses I've ever ridden for cyclocross. After I was out of the running I cheered our shop rider Chris Fillmore on to an impressive 4th place finish considering he dropped his chain going over the barriers on the first lap.

I guess you can't win them all (although I'd really like to) and so this result puts me with two wins and a DNF on the season.

Saturday night was then filled with a wild time out at the Collins' for their annual Halloween party. It was our first time attending but Lindsay and I had heard a lot of good things about it and it definitely lived up to all the hype. Tim and Karey sure know how to put on a party and make sure absolutely everybody has a good time. I quickly forgot about my disappointment from earlier in the day once we got there and Linz told me after we left that it was the most fun she's had since we moved to Michigan. We were some of the first to leave departing at around 1:3o and I guess things were going strong until around 4. Everyone I talked to sure knew they had a good time the next day too since they had the headaches to prove it.

I'm trying to see if I can sneak out to Ann Arbor for a cross race this weekend otherwise next on the schedule is Iceman.

Peak 2 Peak

2010 Mileage: 4365
This past weekend Linz and I loaded up the new car and headed up to Crystal Mountain in northern Michigan to meet Kate, Andrew and my Dad to race Peak 2 Peak. It was a great time and a gorgeous fall day.Ending on the podium with the win in the sport class felt great too.I lined up not sure how I wanted to approach things since I have ridden very little single track this year but as soon as we were off that all changed. It was a really wide open start so it made jockeying for position going in to the single track pretty easy and I knew I didn't want to roll in first but close to it. I entered the woods in 4th position and was surprised when I had no difficulty at all with the pace being dictated by the leaders. As we hit an open section about 1/3rd of the way in to the lap some positions changed ahead of me but I remained in 4th. The guy that had moved up to the lead was pulling away a bit and I realized that the two guys right ahead of me weren't giving much chase so at the next opportunity I went around them and bridged up fairly quickly. As soon as I caught the guy I told him we had a descent gap and said if we worked together we could grow it. I then passed him expecting him to grab my wheel and instead didn't see him again for the rest of the race. I rode solo for roughly a lap and a half from there on out and managed to push myself to keep away. I had a mechanical just before the second ski hill climb (we did two laps) and got passed briefly but as soon as I got my chain back on I bridged back up on the climb and rode away with the win with a time of 1:31:10 for the 23.5 mile race.Lindsay also completed her very first mountain bike race (and only her second time riding mountain bike trails) and Kate won her class too.Next up is Iceman, although I think I'm might be more excited about the party after than the actual race.