Council Bluff madness

The ICCC Council Bluffs race was the last UFD race of the year. I was looking forward to it initially to get some hot laps in before Burnin'. I got my wish and they chose to run the race in the same direction as Burnin'.

Unfortunately, my legs were still not recovered from the 24-hour 2 weeks before. But we wanted to go to the race no matter what since it would be Casey's last race this year and her last race in the 'Kids' category. We're really looking forward to her racing Junior next year! - but moms pretty nervous. Casey of course did great on a short but very tough course and got 1st place. Unfortunately, she didn't have much competition but it was a 'kids' race.

Karen made the race-time decision to not race due to her legs not being recovered from the 24. So she was there cheering us on.

I chose to race Cat-2/Sport so I'd only have to do 1 lap at a minimum instead of possibly 3 if I did Marathon.

My race started with a sprint down the pavement, do a u-turn, and head back down the road onto the singletrack. Right after the race director yelled 'Go' I knew it wouldn't be a good day for me. I stood up to sprint but the legs just didn't want to respond. They were 2-ton bricks! The majority of the field took off in front of me.

I entered the single-track mid-pack. After about 2 miles, I started to feel my legs coming back. I started passing guys I didn't expect to be passing. I wound up catching up to Steve Freidman from Ballwin Cycles. Steve and I have ridden together in the last few races. He's a very strong single-speeder. So, I knew I was starting to rally. But I couldn't pass him. The legs didn't have it. We hit the long climb to the finish and I just let Steve go. There was no way I was going to take him.

Surprisingly, I wound up finishing 3rd overall and 2nd in the 40-49 category 2 minutes behind Jeff Powell. I was very surprised by my finish. Maybe my legs weren't as bad as I thought?!

The race was a blast though. Thanks to ICCC and Rich Pierce for putting it on!