minnesota collegiate time trial 9.17-9.18.05

this past weekend, yerke, john and i headed north to southern minneapolis area for the 2nd installment of the collegiate mtn bike race series.

we left saturday, in a minivan. yerke worked till 1, so john and i packed up here and picked him up in cedar rapids on the way up. we got to northtowne, and met up with matt. but, we are bikers, and we were in a bike shop. you do the math. a half hour or so later, one new wheelset and a few other goodies, and we were on our merry way. i bought a new tubeless wheelset and a rear tire. borrowing a front from yerke. anyway, my bike is significantly nicer now. we got up to eagan, at a park called lebanon hills. i guess some farmer back in the day gave 2000 acres to the city and said it had to be used as a park. so now, in the midst of minneapolis-suburban-sprawl there is this awesome park area. we set up camp, and sadly it was too dark for a pre-ride. so instead we headed into town, got us some dinner and made a night of it.

woke next morning, dressed, rode over to the course. registered, chatted with some of the other racers. headed out for a pre-ride. 4 mile course. most fun course i've ever ridden. yerke and john say about the same thing. when they built this trail, they built it for fun. trial following a nice line, with the land. barely any noticable climbing. tons of fun rollers. extended downhills. banked turns. a jump over a water drainage. fun fun fun. fun enough, post race, we went out for another lap. specifically to ride a double black trail people told us was fun that was left out of the race. a mini teeter-totter, bridges, and all sorts of other goodness. it was simply put, a riot of a place to ride.

the race was fun. time trial. one minute intervals. i put myself in line behind john and matt. and it was appropriate, as i didn't see either of them, but they would have caught me. time trials are different as you constantly have to remind yourself you are racing. i'm pretty sure i could have had a faster first lap, but anyway i look at it, i'm still happy with my time. i came in 9th place with 2 26 minute laps. yerke 6th. john 8th.

i want to go back just to ride those trails again. i can't say enough good things about them.