So this past weekend was a lot of fun with one of the best races in the midwest to cap it off, The Copper Harbor Trails Festival. This year was a little different than in past years though, cause we actually raced! Usually it turns into more of a hard workout, but each of us seemed to give a go minus Brian who was content to sit back and just enjoy the day, except for him going to the front every so often to get some Go Pro footage:)
So the weekend. Krayers came to our house on Thursday night for an early morning departure to meet the McFaddens at the Tech trails. On Friday morning we loaded up the Audi with 6 bikes, 6 people, and even had the rocket box busting at the seams!! As we were packing RK made the all time rookie mistake and noticed he forgot his shoes! Luckily for him, Scott has the same size so we had to make a detour to pick up Scott's spare shoes. Even with the detour we still made record time to Houghton thanks to the backroad passing power of the Audi! I only saw 100 mph a couple times so not too bad:)
We hit up the Tech trails for a bit then decided to play around on the tech loop. Maybe not our best decision cause Lisa had a pretty good spill on the corkscrew. So bad we were starting to try and figure out how to get a car back to her to get her out of the woods. Luckily she was able to make it out and in the end was OK minus some good bruises and a possible concusion. After the Tech trails we loaded up our stomachs with beer, fish bowls, and tosatado pizza at Ambassadors. Yum!
We finally rolled into CH around 8PM and checked into the 5 star establishment known as the King Copper. To our surprise, they finally got new carpet! I must admit, kind of missed the blue shag under my feet.
On Saturday we opted to skip the enduro and just ride bikes and hang out for the day. It was awesome and the trails were as fun as I can remember!! We even ended up finishing the day with more pizza and beer! Great pre race meal!
Race Day. Ended up fixing Big D's rear wheel cause he broke a spoke during pre ride so that took up most of the morning. We did get a bit of chill in there but was quickly overcome by it's time to get race ready.
After a really short warm up, which consisted mainly of talking to Brian and Andrea, it was time to hit the start line. Big D and I ended up backing it in on the front row, even thought it was tight. I am glad we did cause sure enough, there was a crash on the pavement lead out. Road lead outs always make me nervous! After cruising through town being led out by Big D and Tom Carpenter we hit the climb up Brockway. There was one roadie that went at the bottom but could tell he was going no where since he was riding like a Chick-a-dee, always turning around to see if there was anyone there. We caught him about half way up the climb and then either Pete, Big D, or Tyler seemed to be setting the pace. I finally hit the hammer just before the turn into the flow trails so Pete did not get there first! That kid has some mad downhill skills and I was not going to let him lead, I mean drop me on the first descent!! When I turned in I noticed that another 212 jersey, whch ended up being Scott, was on the front of the next group so I chilled to see if they could catch on down the flow trail.
We exited the flow trail with a group of about 8 riders. Big D then decided to get up close and personal with the trail by throwing himeself on the ground to get a good feel of the soil content! He blocked the entire trail so I set up to wait for him to get back up and let the group come back together. The group was pretty chill up Garden Brook to the lodge and then back down Her We Go. Once we rounded the bottom near Stairway I decided to give it a go. I hit the climb pretty good to just see how everyone was feeling and gave me the results I thought it would, Brian, Tyler, Big D, and myself. We finished out the lap with Jan catching back on down the red trail.
Then on lap 2, Brian took over so that he could get some Go pro footage. He also decided to lead us the wrong way, OK there was someone pointing us in the wrong direction as well. Once going the right way Tyler took over and led up Woopidy Woo. Pete came back on this climb as well to make our group 6 strong.
The rest of the lap was pretty uneventful minus Big D ribbing Tyler as Tyler picked the pace up while going up to the golf course for the last time. We then entered the Red Trail with Big D taking over the pace setting. Unfortunatly the lap traffic was really bad and we were not able to really let it rip. I think if we could Big D would of walked away with the race cause he had gaps on a couple different occasions! At the base of the Red Trail we came out onto the pavement with Big D up about 10 seconds, with Tyler chasing, me sitting on Tyler, and Brian on me. Tyler reeled Big D back in just before making the left into the field area and then the games began. Tyler made the first jump but was quickly covered by Big D. Then as we were coming into the final turn, Big D and Tyler swung wide to take the corner leaving the inside line open so I jumped. I knew the finish well from years past and I immedialtely got a couple bike lengths. Tyler tried to turn and grab my wheel, but washed out and had a pretty spectacular crash from what I hear. Brian had to avoid Tyler and ended up in the sand box but luckily stayed up right as to avoid any injury before he starts his cross campaign. So with the dust settled, I came in 1st, Big D 2nd, Brian 3rd, and Tyler 4th. This gave me my 6th win here, one tie with Big D, and one defeat to Big D. The paper article can be found here:
After the race the party started with Bells beer, a cookout, and some live music. It was great to catch up with everyone and is always great to hang out with everyone we race against, minus one DB about mid evening!
Next up. Michelle, RK, and I fly out tomorrow for the NUE closer in Georgia, The Fools Gold 100.
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