Pork Chop Challenge CX

Matt and I met John and Linda on I94 as we were heading to the 7th Annual Pork Chop Challenge cyclocross race down in St. Cloud, MN. The Wenzel plan changed at the last minute to make the race which in my opinion always means that you are going to have a good day as change is good.
We met Jake Richards from Maplelag at the race who was in St. Cloud with his Mom Jonell for the Single Track Escape mountain bike race the day before. Jake has ordered a new cross bike but it has yet to arrive so we brought down Ben's Kona, switched pedals, adjusted the seat and Jake was set.
Jake mentioned that he was in the saddle for over two hours yesterday but it did not show today. He rode strong and came in second overall behind Assa from GPCC.
The photo above could be me, but it is Matt. Matt has a new Salsa Chili Con Crosso hanging in the garage, but it is lacking a few parts which meant that he had to ride my Kona for the C race. There were a few comments from our group about the fact that the we did not change a thing on my bike. To top it off, after Matt's race, he took my Croc's and I took his bike shoes and I was off pre riding the course. Not sure how long that will last as Matt is still growing like crazy. It won't be long and he will be too big for my stuff.

Matt dropped a chain on one of the down hills but recovered and had a solid 12th place overall finish, 2nd in the 15 - 18 year old juniors. Nice work to the junior riders Jake and Matt!
Kent Throlson in the A race. Kent just returned home from Interbike in Las Vegas, sounds like it was a great trip. Wow, KT was strong battling it out with John Struchy through the whole race.
Rick Laliberte in the A race. I wrenched on Rick's bike last night, mainly brake work. Rick has his Trek XO2 set up sweetly. I was a bit worried that things were in working order for the race today. I trust my work, but brakes are a big deal, I had to switch things around completely to keep the fork chatter and squealing to a minimum. Kind of tabu before race day. After the race Rick reported that all was well mechanically - wheew.
The unofficial results for the C and B races. Check out the MCF web page for more information on both the upcoming race schedule and all of the results.

Overall, great racing today in St. Cloud. Kia Anderson, Kia's husband Chris and a whole list of other people always throw a great event. A mountain bike race on Saturday and a CX race on Sunday is a lot of work. The group from Fargo appreciates it greatly.

Matt and I ate a quick bite at Chipotles before we left and saw this guy at an intersection with a load of cans in his basket, drinking a can of Coke as he was waiting for the light. I love bikes!