Red Wing Memorial Classic

ohhhh Red Wing. i had been looking forward to you since last year. no other course like you. the Whoop De Doos that feel like riding a half-pipe, the wild, technical ride down into the quarry that looks like a set from Lord of the Rings, the up-hill switchbacks out of the quarry, and the way you tried to kill me on Stairway to Heaven. did you think i forgot about all that??

i had a big portion of my learning curve on this course last year. some good lessons were learned and i have been looking forward to applying them to my teacher. i thought i was going to get a call up and help my shot at being first to the single track. the call up didn't happen or i didn't hear it. i was starting from pretty far back again.

on go i tried to work my way up to the front. it is a pretty long way until the single track and i was able to get to the single track first. guys were right behind me and i had a good feeling at least 2 of them were on the podium with me the week before in Eau Claire (turns out later that it was them). once again i wasn't riding very smooth in the tight, curvy single track. i thought for sure i was going to get caught. i was riding so choppy that i had even told myself that i would make sure to let guys pass me asap when they did get me. also like the week before i told myself to just ride my race and have fun. that is when the curves smooth out and the line through the trees shows up.

a big change for me on this race was to not be afraid to get out of the saddle. i had thought that staying in the seat as much as possible was the most efficient. on this day i decided to get out of the saddle a lot more, especially on the medium hills. this was a good time. hills were over with faster and with less energy. on some of them it seemed to recover the legs. i think the change in position and the boost of getting over the hill was a charge.

i was amazed to get to Stairway to Heaven without being passed. i went up the hill as smooth and even as i could. i did not try to get to the top as fast as i could. i learned last year that it will hurt my overall time to do that. it just takes too long to recover. it worked and i recovered much quicker this time. good feeling.

i was first to finish lap one and i took a gel and gatorade to prepare for another stab at Stairway. i looked back and it looked like a had a good gap. decided to build on that and i would be in a good position to walk Stairway if i had to. had a lot more fun in the woods the second time around. the whole time i was pretty set on just walking Stairway but a funny thing happened. less than half a mile before Stairway my bike shifted itself from the middle ring to the big ring as i was secretly planning the walk up Stairway. it was like the bike said, "uh-uh, we're going to ride up this". funny enough my bike was right. that was the right gear and we kicked it up a notch. we got to Stairway feeling great and we rode instead of walking.

got done with that and went into the finish for first place. it was a great feeling. i had wanted to be first to the single track, ride Stairway as efficent as i could and just have the best race i could and it really came together. Ohhhhhhh Red Wing.

takeaway: don't be afraid to get out of the saddle