Top 10

This was the last of 4 races in a row. I wasn't sure what 24-9 was going to do to me and after my TT intervals on Monday my legs had had enough! Tuesday it was everything I could do just to turn the pedals over. Wednesday was back to the grind with Power Intervals which didn't feel the best but at least the power was there. The rest of the week felt pretty good so I was confident going into the race.
We decided drive up Sunday morning. After getting hopelessly lost in Fon Du Lac we somehow found 151 again. We left in pouring rain and the forecast was rain all day at the race. As we got closer though the rain had stopped and the sun was out. When we got to the course the citizen racers were hosing there very muddy bikes down. The sport guys were out at the time and it looked like the course was drying really nice.
After a short warm up the time had come to line up. I got a 14th spot call up while Cathy got a 10th position! We had about a 1 mile road lead out which is always sketchy I made a move to get a decent spot into the single track. After the lead out we jumped on to the course I dropped my chain. I got back going and attacked the hill really hard, Cory was ahead of me so I hit the gas and went to give him some help. He jumped on my wheel and as I upped the pace and kept an eye on him. He looked like he was hanging but after the race he said he was blowing up HARD! After about a half lap of this I had to kick it. He dropped off and I floored it. By the end of the lap I had caught Jesse Lalonde and the two of us battled it out the rest of the race. He would take me on the climbs and I would pull/gap him on the flats. On the last lap I crested the grassy hill first and made my move to gap him on the flats, I don't know how fast he was spinning but I ran out of gears trying to get a gap before the final climb. I hit the final climb first with only a few second gap. I heard Jesse coming and tried to respond but the legs were already spent. We had a decent gap on the other guys so I sat up and enjoyed the last set of single track before the fast down hill finish.
I seen Cathy a few times throughout the race and she looked like she was having a good race...looks were deceiving though. On her first lap breakfast wasn't agreeing with her and decided it would rather sit on the side of the trail. After getting sick for a little she got back on her bike and kept going. Then on the first climb of her second lap a comp rider crashed next to her and put his pedal in her back leaving a really nice knot! At that point she wanted to quit. She kept going and finally started feeling better. Her last 1.5 laps everything just came together she took off and closed a HUGE gap on Anna Fink. She was riding Anna's wheel until a comp rider wedged his way in between. The sprint from the last single track to the downhill just wasn't enough for Cathy to get around Anna. Turning another 8th place finish was good enough to move up again in points!