A blog post a day

So my loyal fan has probably missed me lately. I have a bunch of posts to catch up on, and I think I'll just work backwards.

Yesterday was the Great Hawk Chase race in Duluth. The course was fun, but I ended up with a fat DNF. I had many things not going my way that day which was fine, it happens. I was still set out to finish and see what transpired. What was happening was what occurred to me back in 24 hours of 9 mile in 2007 (and for the same reason). I could not hold down any liquids, at all. As I faded hard going into the third lap and realized I was losing more liquids then I was putting in I decided to not end my day the same as 9 mile(almost passing out on the side of the trail) as I have Afton (gasp!) next weekend. The plug was pulled, but the evacuation of contents took awhile to stop.

Just a couple of notes about the race. The registration/start area was really neat looking, with water flowing and such. The course was really fun, and I wished I was 100% and on the dually for the race. With all that though, I hope another MN race does not stop here. Parking was a nightmare. The park was well used by the neighbors so that only made it more crowded. The only viewing area to see the racers mid race was a mile up a hill (or a short walk as I was told, ha!). Had it been raining there would have only been one small shelter to hide under, but registration already was taking that up. I left frustrated as I was trying to negotiate a good spot for my wife, 2 year old (something to play with), and dog (away from the chaos of that playground) while I raced. There was none. This would be a fun place to ride, but not meant for a big race. Thanks, however, to those that made the race possible, and I hope you get spirit mountain back next year.

Oh, and a picture. The race started out with about a mile climb right away. Because I don't have a "series number" I get to line up in the back. Well, it took about 1/3 of the climb for there to be room to pass, but I was able to work my way up to about tenth before hitting the single track. Here is the back of the pack 10 seconds after the start. I believe that is me on the far left.

Picture obnoxiously stolen from Skinnyski.com, and probably taken by Jay Richards.

Oh, and expect to see a blog post a day for this week. Miss you all, and btw.