State Champs and a Vacation

Brooks and I headed down to Burlington on Saturday for the WI State Road Champs. We had to do 6 laps on a 7 mile course. It is a fun course...no real flat, straight sections...just a bunch of rolling hills, twisty roads, fast descents, and a decent climb right before the start/finish line. About halfway thru the first lap, a solo rider got off the front and the field let him go. After that, the laps ticked by relatively quickly, with it breaking up a little on the climb each time, but (for the most part) getting back together shortly afterwards. We finally caught the solo rider with about 3 miles remaining, and then the field ticked along nicely at 35mph entering the corner before the last climb. There were still at least 40-50 riders in the peloton when we hit the base of the climb, and then it was every rider for themselves. The field was splintered pretty quickly, and I got to the top of the climb with the leading group of about 10 riders. Then there was around 1/4 mile flat before the finish line...and the 10 of us must have used all of our energy on the climb, because we proceeded to have the slowest sprint for the win that I have ever seen. It felt like it was slow motion. No one had the legs to blow by anyone. I ended up 6th (4th WI rider), but I was literally only about 10 feet behind the winner. That's frustrating. Oh well I guess. There are still a few road races left this year...time to start mixing things up with some attacks. :)

Heather and I have a nice vacation planned with her parents this week. We leave on Wednesday for Hayward, WI to stay at a lake cabin for a few days. Here's the link to the website for the cabin...some cool pics of it there. Should be a great time!
On the way back home on Sunday we are going to hit up the WORS mtb race in Phillips, since it is right along the way. How convenient.