CIRREM recap

was thinking about taking the slacker way out and just linking adam's race recap from this year's cirrem since we rode pretty much the entire race together. but i guess i'm above that...barely.

three times as many racers, gorgeous weather, rocket fast start. kept looking at my speed and refusing to look at my heart rate cause i knew i was well beyond what i had planned and i wasn't able to pull myself back and chill out. the lead group was gone quickly and people started to settle in when i found myself rolling along with squirrel who was also riding fixed. different setups but seemed that we had very similar gear ratios so riding together was comfortable. eventually we caught sight of a bigger group and decided to work together to latch on and get pulled along for a bit. i pulled for a bit then squirrel put in a big pull and we were on with mg, kyle, fuhrman, adam and a few others. the group was moving comfortably when we hit a decent hill and adam and i took the lead without realizing or attempting to pull away from the group. when we got to the top and looked back we had put a bit of a gap on them. with some serious indecision we decided to keep moving at our pace rather than slowing up and waiting for the group to share the work load. andy from ankeny was able to bridge up and push with us and eventually mike from cedar falls did as well although he didn't seem to be able to hang on after what must have been a tough solo effort to grab onto our threesome. adam and i collectively decided to bypass the water station halfway, both unsure if we had enough fluid to finish but wanting to increase our lead on the group chasing us. the three of us worked together and pushed hard and slowly worked past a couple riders that appeared to have been blown off the lead group and left to fend for themselves. about 15 miles out i was getting rocked by some rollers on the fixie and the gravels were really starting to soften up and demand far more effort. rationing the water may have been a bad decision as adam started to fight a couple cramps. i told andy i was gonna slow up to give my legs a break and let adam catch back on and that he should go on if he felt up to it. he continued on still looking fairly strong. adam and i hooked back up and it became obvious if we held a decent pace we wouldn't have to kill ourselves on the climbs and most likely no one would be catching us. about 8 miles out we got out of the headwind and cruised in to the finish. completely worked.

stats: 1st fixed, 4hr30min, 90min faster than last year, 14+mph, 146 avg hr (yikes), 4 gus, 15 slices bacon, 40oz carborocket, ran out of fluids with about 10 miles left, about 10 candy orange slices, free beer, awesome handmade trophy from squirrel, $50 gift certificate to scheels will most likely be going toward a new bikecamping tent, got to see TONS of friends i haven't seen in a while...want to drop names but so many people i would undoubtedly leave some out. awesome day, thrilled with how the body held up despite pushing much harder than planned out of the gates. a few recovery days then finalizing plans for the std.

huge thanks to kent and jed for throwing this party again. hopefully they'll get it figured out for next year despite the obvious increase in numbers and presumable increase again next year. congrats to kent on a super strong ride, jed for riding back from an early flat, bill had a great race, mg pushing through an illness and early morning drive, nick pushing a pugsley and matt pushing a studded 29er. thanks to adam for keeping the whole thing lighthearted despite the silence that began to creep in around mile 50 when we both started to hurt.