Wet!!

Twine Ball CX race down in Darwin, MN. Dan Seymour and I made the plan late in the week and headed out of Fargo first thing Saturday morning with 45 degree temps, kicking NE wind and the forecast of rain and cold. We were both skeptical of the weather, but neither of us were going to say anything and question our manhood. In addition, CX is suppose to be greasy, cold and wet. We headed south at Sauk Center and the skies cleared and the sun was bright and beautiful! Pulled into the race course on time and we were blessed with 70 degrees, light wind and sunny skies - 200 miles NE the weather could not have been worse.Photo above of the main climb of the course. I did not race this course last year, but had heard that it was worth the time. Dan S. raced the C class that had a minimal field, but there was a good race and a good group of people that were fighting it out. Dan said that he started out to fast and complained about his fitness but seemed to get stronger as the race progressed. Nice work Danno!
My race started at 11 (earlier than usual). There were probably 40 people with the B, 45+ and Elite women, nice size group. The race started on a gravel road, made a tight 180 degree turn headed down to a long sweeping turn and headed up the climb you see in the photo. From there, there is a nice gradual down hill that ends with a barrier followed by a rooty climb that I ran the first two laps, but remounted and rode the rest of the race that to me saved lots of time. Once you were in the woods, you headed back towards the start on a sweet rolling single track section - perfect for me. You could easily pick out the people that were apprehensive about riding single track as I could pass them easily in the somewhat technical sections only to be reeled in again on the open trail.
I sound like a broken record, but as usual I started out too slow. I was warmed up, but need to work at getting out front at the start of the race. There is not enough time to catch the leaders in a 45 minute race. I have not seen the results, but am almost sure that I made it to the top 10. I never slowed down and was able to do my passing in the woods, put the hammer down so that the roadies could not pass me on the open sections and keep the guys that I passed behind me.
With the weather and the great course, it was very much worth the time. Kriston, Matt and Ben did not join us as there was plenty of stuff going on in Fargo.
With the nice weather that we had at the race all day, it was tough to jump in the car and head north to a bad forecast.

Dan and John Weisgerber chowing at Chipoltes in St. Cloud. John tweaked a rear wheel and had to head north with us. We laughed all the way home at Johns stories. It was 72 degrees when we left St. Cloud. By the time that we rolled through Fergus Falls and Barnsville the temperature dropped 20 degrees.
The totals - I dumped the gauge on Saturday: 1.16 inches. I dumped it again this morning after it seemed like it rained all night: .73 inches. The photo above was taken this afternoon, Sunday with another .30 inches of rain and it is still lightly raining as I write this.
There was another race down in the Cities that I missed today to get some things done at home. I was able to blow my sprinkler system out which is always good to have done before it freezes. Did a few things for Kriston and ended off a good weekend.