Iowa and I have a deep dark history that goes back for years.  Last year Trans-Iowa v3 put me in my place.  Years before that an attempt at a self supported Ragbrai kicked my ass.  This time I feel I fared much better.  Friday Dan, Jen, Mike and I left Chicago for our hotel and the trip was easy except that the combination of four people, four bikes and a trunk full of gear meant that the bike rack, after any bump in the road, would skip off the ground.  Not good, but I will fix it somehow.  Checked into the hotel and went to the co-op where I go some coffee that I am fairly excited about from Raven's Brew.  After that, Tim, Dan, Mike, Kevin, Holly and I all went for dinner followed by like 2 hours of awesome water slide action.  I was like a little kid who was staying at the hotel unattended.  What my parents would have called off the hook.  We awoke this morning around 7:30, got coffee had breakfast and made our way over to the venue.  Mike and I took the car, Dan and Jason rode....crazy.  It was chilly, 29 degrees but sunny.  We wanted to get a pre-ride in just to get an idea of what we were up against.

 

Two words.  Power Fest.  The first section was long and grassy.  The start and lead out was grass and into a wide sweeping right turn which lead into the only set of barriers.  They were perfectly at the end of a long straight right before another sweeping left.  Around the field again and along the base of the hill put you at the run up.  Which was more like a slide down.  It was super steep and at my race time would have thawed out and become a slippery slope.  Atop the run up was a crazy off camber downhill along the side of the hill.  Remount the bike with muddy pedals and hope you are clipped in for the decent.  Back through the field a couple more times before we had to weave in and out of the fair ground buildings.  Through one of the buildings was the "Grinch's lair" which was a fairly shallow sand pit all the way through and then we had to weave though a doorway and up onto a concrete pad and then ride off a ledge.  It was AWESOME.  Not only was it a sandpit, but it was really technical.  More weaving through the buildings and out into another field.  At the back side of the field, the course did this zig zag that had us run over two logs and go up and around these small hills.  The ground leading in and out of the hills became really soft and rutted really badly.  The end of the field led directly into the hill climb.  The hill was long, steep, bumpy and went on forever.  It is one of those things that you had to ride to really understand.  The backside of the hill was half as long but three times as steep.  Bombing down the hill was scary fast!  A quick hairpin after the run out and then a gravel sprinting lane finish straight.

 

We stayed to watch the beginning of the beginners race and cheer on Tim and hand out some dollar preems before we went back to the hotel to get all our business in order.  Fill the bottles, get dressed and back in the car and back to the course.  We got there in time to watch Holly and Kevin finish their Masters races really strong.  Holly took second and Kevin took third.  Then it was time for the 3/4 race.  With almost 100 riders there were parts of the course to be guaranteed mayhem.  The run up put the field at a stand still and we made our way to the sand pit.  I ended up with a cowbell and got super rowdy shouting things I learned from the NYCross guys on the east coast.  It was awesome.  After that I putzed around and fell asleep in the car while I was warming up my toes.  Out of the car, warm up some and after about five trips to the bathroom I was staging.  Having Number 13 put me in the second row and I pulled up behind Tristan.  Todd Wells gave me a high five and I was pumped.  All of you who have been too cool to high five me on the line can suck it.  The rules were read and they fired the gun.

 

 

 

The starts in New England were fast and aggressive, so I was expecting it.  The difference was that in New England I was starting from the back and fighting to make headway.  Now I was starting in the front and fighting to hold position.  This is an entirely different battle.  Elbows, shoulders, whole bodies, bikes, if it could be thrown around it was.  Fighting for the wheel and line is an understatement.  I am getting better at defending my line, but there still is a line where I feel things just get dangerous.  So, I was loosing a little bit of position, but defiantly not falling to the back.  There were three sections of the course where I was going to get people and the first run up I picked up a spot or so.  Down though the field things were still pretty aggressive.  The sand pit was awesome, the field sections were fast, and then the hill climb.  I powered up it at a steady pace and I could tell this was going to be a prime place for me to attack.  Down the back side I went into a corner a little hot and almost got tangled up in the fencing.  Down the hill at literally break neck speeds.  If I had fallen on that hill in any one of the laps it would have been really bad.  Down and across the line, chasing down the next rider.  The lap was long and after the first lap, the card said six to go, which was awesome.  The next couple laps were pretty much the same.  I would gain ground in the technical sections on riders and then solidify the pass on the hill.  I was riding really well and happy with my performance.  At the top of the hill a few laps in, there was an official counting out rider positions and I was 21st, and I had 20th in my sights.  It took about a lap to get in a position to make my move and when I did I made it stick.  I was now chasing 19th and 18th, but was never really able to make contact.  By this time, the muddy rutted part of the course right before the hill climb was getting hard to navigate.  Some of the ruts had become almost axle deep and if you rode them offline in even the slightest they bucked you out of them and tipped you over.

 

There really was not anything amazing about my race today.  There was alot of good stuff that made the day overall pretty incredible.  Holly and Kevin did really well.  Mike took 10th and Jason 15th in the 100 person 3/4 field.  Tristan took 4th, Brian took 8th and Marko took 12th in the Elite race.  I rode really strong and finished within the top twenty at 20th.  There usually is a time during the race where I just want it to be over and hurt really bad.  That point never came today and for the entire race I felt strong.  Tomorrow I need to be much more aggressive about the start and just go completely all out, but beyond that I there are not any disappointments on my end.  I had an incredible cheering section for every angle.  There were people cheering for me that I barely know and that was super encouraging.  I feel like I should have more to say, but I really don't.  It has been a great time and I am really enjoying just hanging out with these guys, where all we have going on is racing.  Thanks to Mike for taking awesome pictures of me.  Thank you to everyone who shouted, it was awesome.