I flatted... IN GARY INDIANA! Never made it to the race, which believe me, can totally ruin anyone's weekend. I've been looking forward to this race for the past 6 months and not being able to participate was a disheartening. Once I got the car repaired I drove back and rode indoors for 3 hours to release some pent up anger.

Hope everyone else had fun.

Wow. That sucks big time. Not only a flat but in Gary. Adding insult to injury.

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The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.

36 tooth is really hard to find for SRAM for some reason. I happened to find one because I wanted it for CX, but it took some searching.

I started first thing with warm tap water in one bottle, and was able to drink it without problems. I'd left Gatorade for the second bottle in the car overnight, and the cap froze within about 15 miles. Should have simply carried it inside my jersey---by the time I figured out to do this, it was too late, it never did thaw.

For some reason I didn't think to swap bottles at the first aid station. That reason is that I'm an idiot.

Guzzled water at the 42-mile aid station and had a pretty good ride rest of the way in.

Super fast race Saturday. The course was in great shape, although I didn't really like Sager Rd.

I was in wave 7, Men 45-47, and we rolled out relatively sedately, but after the Sisters, a few guys just decided to drill it. A pretty good group formed and just rolled hard for mile after mile. There were probably 6-8 guys and I was content to sit on near the back and just make sure I stayed on for the climbs.

At some point we rolled up on a few guys and one of them asked if we were wave 7, we said yes and he said that he was wave 6 and the front of wave 6 was right there also, so our group turned into 12+ guys from the front of wave 6 and wave 7, still rolling fast.

I was in good position hitting Sager Rd, but there was a wreck on the right side just as we turned onto the dirt. I had to slow down and then was stuck picking my way through the crowd. I still felt good about my position, but then I dropped my chain coming off Sager. At that point I lost the group and was chasing back the rest of the race.

I wasn't sure who was still ahead, so I just kept pushing as hard as I could. With the waves and then the 24 milers mixing in, it was hard to tell who was who. I picked up a few wave 6 guys coming into the finish.

In the end the top 2 guys from Wave 7 finished in a group with the top 3 from Wave 6 and I led in another group of 5 guys (3 wave 7, 2 wave 6) 2 minutes later.

All in all a really hard, but fun day.

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There was somebody on Sager who got a ride to the hospital. I heard he's okay though.

I was on a 29er no Sager was easy peezy. :) Woohoo I finally had an advantage. :) For one mile. :(

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The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.

After I got home and started to do research on why there was movement in my crank I figured I'd check the crank on my tri bike (Quarq). I usually swap these cranks between the two bikes but for some reason I thought my Quarq was a double not a compact. So this whole time I had the perfect crank and gearing for this race and never knew it. I would have also had a power. I win dumbass of the day award.

As for my SRAM Force crank with movement, I'm just replacing it. The Force is the old 130BCD so I can't go any lower than 36t. I'm dropping to the 110BCD version so I have more gearing options for future CX races. I just bought the lower Rival version since it will collect dust much of the time. I don't like using my Quarq in muddy or rainy weather. I know it can handle it but too much $$ to risk.

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The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.

Last year my water froze up, but not the Gatorade. Since it was colder this year, I did one bottle of Gatorade, then put a NUUN electolye tab in the bottle. The other bottle had Infinit with a NUUN electrolyte tab. Neither bottle froze, and I didn't cramp!

However, I couldn't feel my fingers for most of the race. What are you guys doing to keep your hands warm?

Take those hand warming packs and use packing tape around your grips. If the extra thickness bothers you, use the ones designed for feet (Which are much thinner).

My hands were fine. But my feet were frozen. I have a brand new pair of winter riding boots that I forgot about. I just dropped the ball on everything. lol

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The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.

I had those stick on toe warmers on top and bottom of each foot and felt great. Hand warmers in my gloves as well. At one point I couldn't figure out why I couldn't get my Infinit out of my bottle... Then I realized it was frozen. Fortunately a couple of shakes were able to break everything up.

This was my first time at BR and from the sounds of it I was spoiled rotten by the conditions. I have no experience in cold weather riding and just guessed on what to wear (for the most part correctly). It was also my first road/gravel race and I was nervous being stuck in the third (very crowded) wave (obviously based on age and not ability). I decided to keep that tidbit to myself :). I went out relatively easy with a teammate for the first 10 miles or so but decided to see what I had in my legs when I got to the top of a hill and he was nowhere to be seen. I've only been rising since late last year and he seems to be about my ability level, so the goal was to beat him. I accomplished that by around 8 minutes.

It was a great course (did the 36) and I beat my pre ride time by 10 minutes. Sager road was a bit sketchy, especially if you got stuck taking a bad line due to crowds. I saw several people go down in the deep tire ruts when they tried to pedal and their pedals slammed into the top of the rut. One guy went down a few inches in front of me but I managed to get around him... Still not sure how.

Overall it started cold but ended up being a beautiful sunny day and I got to ride my bike with 3000 of my closest friends. You can't ask for much more than that!

On a side note, I was fortunate to finish early enough to watch the 62 mile winner and his followers come in. Holy crap are those guys ever fast!

Haha! I had the toe warmers, but never even thought about hand earmers. Duh! It's a fun race, and it's what keeps me motivated to get on the trainer all winter.

Some cool drone footage of race day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXZTIX9vFFA

Cool video. Music makes me want to stab kittens though.

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The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.

Anyone doing the Lowell 50?

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Yup, the 34 mile version

I'm entered this year but a work trip just came up so am going to have to miss. Happy to gift my entry + parking pass onto another ST. Only caveat is you'll have to pay the $10 transfer fee & I want the pint glass I bought (so I can be filled with regret every time I drink). Message me or better yet text me at 248.292.nine five three two with your email & first one to respond I'll shoot the transfer over. I'm in Bloomfield Hills.

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"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs." John Rogers