This weekend was long.  Long.  But not as long as it was for others.  Not that it was bad, I can not think of much I would have rather done.  Long does not mean it was not relaxing, just that it was one of those weekends that does not stop until you wake up for work Monday morning.  Friday night, a combination of bike, CTA, shuttle bus and rental car got me to Delavan, WI at one in the morning.  Julie, Ben and I drove up for the first of four rides of the Great Lakes Randonneurs season.  They were to do the 200k.  So it was up bright and early to see them off at eight.  This left me with about nine hours to do whatever I pleased.  So, I had brought the VooDoo with and had planned to meet Cale and Gunner at Kettle Moraine to ride some myself.

I have been yearning for a good MTB ride for weeks.  The last time I had been out was in the snow and the time before that was strictly fireroad riding.  It had been way too long.  Kettle is probably the best trail system within a reasonable distance of Chicago.  The two hour drive is well worth it.  The early rising put me at the trail head a good hour before Cale and Gunner were to arrive so I went to the general store and had myself a sandwhich and a giant pickle.  Then back to the trails, park the car, put on the Sidis and roll out to fill up the camelpack.  It was so early in the season the park system had not unlocked and turned on the water yet.  So, I was there with 2 water bottles for the day.  I rode the white (or pink), whichever is shortest, loop twice and popped out back into the parking lot.  No sign of Cale yet, so I set out onto County Highway H and rode the gravel shoulder for a while.  Trans-Iowa here I come.  Eventually they show and we all are ready for the trail.  We found the trail conditions to be perfect.  Better than I could have hoped for.  Packed solid, smooth and not even very dusty.  The first 2/3 of the ~31 miles we did were fantastic.  The bike is super responsive with the Pace fork and big tires.  Cale and I are going to rule the two person teamed WEMS races.  I felt really good, really fast and really strong.  I could not help but to climb each hill quickly and push it down the backside as fast as possible.  This lead to only one small altercation with a tree.  Involving down hill, too fast into a switchback, too hard of a rear brake pull, a little bit of wash out and then a young tree not giving an inch.  I was almost stopped when I side swiped it, but the tree made sure that i was brought to a complete stop.  But that is not what hurt.  It was the resulting missing of a clip-in to smashing my boy bits on the saddle.  The bad feeling lasted only to the top of the next hill and the following dash down, all but made the pain a memory.  But once out around the back side of the far loop after the connector trail, with no water, I really started to fade.  Cale said, "When you stop talking to eachother, you know it is bad.  That is when you are in pain."  We all agreeed.  In the end though Gunner was waiting for us in the parking lot, laying in the sun.  When he saw how ragged we were pulling in, he knew he made the right choice to turn back when he did.  I think Cale and I would have been much better with more water.  Once your body does not have what it needs anymore, it is finished and there is not much you can do to fix that.  *Note to self: remember this.*  The bigger problem is once your body gets tired, you start making mistakes.  This is bad news.  You kill your momentum by choosing the wrong line.  You take the turns too wide.  Those close calls happen much more and way too often.

Looking at the race schedule I have in front of me, I am beginning to think that my hopes of achieving good placing on the track this year are foolish.  I am quick on my mountain bike.  I could do well at the track, but honestly, that just might wear myself out.  We will see how the first few weeks go, but if I am not in it to win it, I think my time might be better spent off road.