Boom Island CX race report (+Duluth)
From: Sara Brokaw
Date: Oct 15, 2007 8:54 AM
I agree with Bill regarding the weather….. It was so refreshing to
race in normal weather this weekend.
Saturday a gaggle of Gophers rolled up to Duluth for the Spirit Mtn Cx
race. Lynne represented well in the Cs, with Dan, Rich, & Myself in
the Bs. Three girls toed the line on a pavement-free course which
frankly was just superfun to ride. Rolling gravel road through the
start, rode hard corners around a shed to a barrier followed by
twisty-turny flowy single track…back to gravel & back to more flowy
singletrack. Uphill through finish to grassy section with barrier,
traversed the ski hill followed by an uphill double barrier,
re-traversing the ski sope back into a muddy double barrier before
returning to the start (gravel road). Kept Emily Moelke (sp) in sight
for the first few laps. Most notable incident (other than able to do
sort of do some blocking for Rich in the single track section) was the
last lap splat in the muddy double barrier section (which was
wittnessed by Velo Bella). Sloppy over the barriers.&! nbsp; Payout
to 3 women, and there were 3 of us, so I picked up $40 in post-race
food money. Very fun course. Would definitely go again! Post race
Fitgers meal (+ pint of ESB). Of note also is that I didn’t drink
Wheeler’s prime growler on the way home..really.
Day 2. Boom was a good time, particularly with the great Gopher
turnout in the C race (SUUUUUUUUUUUE, Lynne, Chris, Lee, Gains Bros,
and Bill), where it appeared there were some epic battles in the
womens race. Nice ride by Lee with her win!
In the womens B race we had a handfull of riders (2 ridley, 1 h-wood,
MTBer Kyia, and BWARC). Started with the men. Chose to try to
advance position by running around the crash in the first corner, but
I was already at the back of the pack & stayed there throughout the
race. Need to work a bit on those starts! Not as sloppy as I was
with the bike in Duluth, but still sufficiently sloppy to lose
additional positions through the first tent barrier as I attempted a
pirouette (sp) on my knees! Next lap I think I almost lost the front
end on the twisty-turny section, but not due to tire choice…operator
error. Focused on picking off guys in front of me…. Fun course,
good effort, physically felt better than in Duluth, but need to stop
the mistakes!! Seemed, however, to have ridden a better race at boom
this year compared to last year. At one point JeffI came by having a
good race! Post race b! rews were tasty (Farmhouse Ale at Rock
Bottom Brewery highly recommended!) while we watched Rodent Wheeler
mix it up in the As! Fun end to the racing Weekend!
Sara