State road champs and Jim's Trails

Another guys weekend for Vontoux and I this weekend, as Heather went back home for her friend Heather's bridal shower. She flew out of Madison on Fri and will be returning later tonight. Just a quick little trip for her.

On Sat was the WI State Road Race championships in Burlington, WI (about 1.5 hours south). The course was pretty cool. It was a 7 mile loop with some nice rolling hills, some fast descents, and a big climb right before the start/finish line. The climb was decently steep, but not nearly as long as the huge one in the MN State RR course. We had to do 6 laps. The original field limit for this race was supposed to be 75 riders, but so many racers showed up that they had to split the race into 2 groups; one field of 75 riders from just WI, and another field of around 60 from IL and MN. So it was a pretty large group... The pace was pretty low for the first couple laps, and then people started attacking on the climb to spread out the field. Each lap we would get a gap over the field on the climb, but then everyone would sit up and the field would catch back on. It was destined to come down to a sprint with that kind of racing. Regardless, we were still dropping some riders on each lap, so by the time the final lap came around, there was only about 25 riders in the lead group. They picked up the pace toward the end of the lap, and everyone went crazy on the climb. I entered the climb toward the back of the pack, but passed alot of riders before sprinting for the finish line. I ended up 8th out of 75. I was hoping for a top 5 at least because my legs were feeling very good, but I am happy with that result because there were so many racers. And that concludes the road races for this season...the rest are mountain and cross races.

Sun was a very nice day out, a little cool, but nice and sunny. Vontoux and I took advantage by heading to the dog park so that he could visit his friends. He, of course, loved it as usual. I was feeling like riding the mountain bike, so I took the IF and went to Jim's Trails near the Trek factory. My legs were still feeling good, so I decided to ride to the trail instead of driving. The trail was much better than the first time I rode it (probably because Heather and I rode it backwards the time that we rode there), and they added some new singletrack. I like it. So it ended up being almost a 40 mile mountain bike ride from riding there, doing two laps, then riding home. Nice.

Sorry I don't have pics from the race or Jim's Trails...Heather took the camera home with her. So instead, I will post the link to the pics that my Auntie Alane took at our wedding. They can be viewed here. Enjoy. Here is a teaser shot: