the Backroads of Polk County: TrekCXC Cup

This past weekend Deb and I headed north to Wisconsin for the TrekCXC Cup in Waterloo. Was looking forward to several things on this trip 1)hanging out with my best friend, 2) seeing the MWI crew, and 3) competing at a national level event.

Averaged 34.5mpg for the up and back trip. Ford Focus + Kuat NV is a setup I am loving

Left Thursday evening, slept over is STL, and arrived at the venue around 3pm Friday afternoon. Didn't know what to expect from the first year course/event, but during the pre-ride I immediately knew we were in for a quality production. Course was more geared toward 'driving' with little open/power areas, just tons of turning and accelerations to the next turn. Had a couple up and down sections that challenged everyone and added to the fun of the course. Little bumpy in sections but not any worse than I've seen from established courses.

Saturday morning and the MWI boys (and girls) start showing up. Paul was in my race so spent some quality time catching up with him and later Ross showed up to run support in the pits (awesome); caught up with The Boss (Mike) who was pretty relaxed considering he is running the Rapha-Focus team these days. Always fun to have him show the latest and greatest stuff out - my favorite is the Dugast Small Birds (check them out - on my wish list).

Due to my Cat 1 status (at registration that is) I was on the front row for the Masters 45+ race. Quick start and after two laps I was still in the top 5, then reality settled in and folks started passing me (or was it I was passing them backwards). Was able to put together a couple good finishing laps and snagged 10th. Felt good about that considering the field and my fitness.

Lot of good laughter and guys on the start line

Saturday evening Deb and I kicked back and did a huge bunch of nothing which doesn't sound like much, but when you have three boys NOTHING is the best!

Day two was pretty much the same course with just a couple slight changes (nothing significant). Decent start and into the mix. Felt like I raced better than day 1, but also the field seemed to move much faster. Bike driving was good while accelerating and top end are getting better with every race. By the end I finished 13th, but the difference of being 6th or 7th was a mere 20 seconds. I could see (even taste) them the last two laps just right there, but every time I closed to them on a technical section they was gap me on a open/power part. Good racing on a tough (but fun) course and like I said it is getting better and better with every start. Really looking forward to seeing the progress come October and on...

Up next is local (2hr drive for us is local) event in KC - Manion's. Not sure if I'll do both days or just Saturday.

The latest MWI product for sale on our team website are these (pretty cool):

During the weekdays now are mad dashes to get house projects done since I will rarely see it on the weekends until mid-December. This week's project was getting weed killer down for the fall. My father-in-law has a sweet sprayer setup on an ATV so I was able to knock it down in two days. In two weeks I'll plug and slice and top off with an over seed.

Last week our house (actually the buried dog fence) was struck by lightening which literally melted the fence wiring, blew apart the GFI, knocked out a couple electrical devices inside, killed the garage door sensors, and... Never had this happen before and luckily nothing of significance was destroyed/too damaged. That being said, add a handful of projects back to the list.

To quote JayZ "I have 99 projects, but the ditch ain't one" (something like that right?). Love the panorama on the iPhone