NYD (eve) Ride and the Cross Nationals Report

This year we had to do the New Years Day ride on the eve due to the Packer game on New Years Day....no big deal and the weather was great so the turnout was high!  Normally we average about 15-20 riders.....this year we hit the jackpot with 36!  We had a good tour of Green Bay and the surrounding area, may have went a little long but a great day and good times!  Love the tradition and hope the ride continues to grow, great fun!

Not every day or year that we get a National Champ event in our own backyard.....so with the Cyclocross Nationals just outside of Madison in the town of Verona, had to go!  So Steele and I drove down Wednesday morning and Davidson rode down with Q and Nate....so GB was represented on day 1.

My day almost ended as the start whistle blew?  On the way to the start line I started to hear my hub making a ton of noise trying to engage the pawls.....fast forward......on the whistle I could not get the bike to go?  I was only hitting 1 pawl every so often if felt like, not cool.  I limped it off the way back of the start knowing the pits were not far away (1/4 mile in), I had planned to bag the race and watch Steele in disapointment.  As I enter the pits ready to bag the race....the Shimano guy comes running towards me yelling, "hold your bike up......9 speed right?"  Hell yeah I felt pro.....a Dura-Ace rear wheel and off I go!

Spent the rest of lap 1 chasing the crew thinking I had a chance to chase back on....kind of blew up trying to make contact, I did manage to catch a few but nothing significant.  The fun part was taking a few more chances than I may normally have, one course marshall said to me on the 3rd time by that I was rocking that down hill section better than anyone, good thing he didn't know how scared I was a couple of times when my front wheel would slide out and somehow catch...loved it!  I was able to climb all the hills at a decent pace and the stair climb was ok...may have been the toughest part for me, but the rest of the course flowed well and was a good course!  May have have been better in snow?

Bottom line I take away from the day....a cool experience racing with the National Champ scaffolding, after getting the new wheel I still had a great time racing and felt really good on the bike, all that Fattie training I guess :)

Off-season.....or wait, fattie season.....give us some snow!