Island Lake Rec. Area XC

Finally some great weather for racing, and on a great trail Island Lake is an XC racers delight. Fast and flowy. Something for all levels. Which is why it has been a great addition to the the Tailwind USAC XC MTB Series. This is the 2nd year for this race, and the registration broke 400! Congrats to Tailwind on a job well done. This is not only great news for Tailwind, but great news for the sport of Mountain Biking in the state of Michigan. Hopefully its on the up swing again.

As for the race, not sure if this place is becoming my new Stony Creek, but needless to say, luck was not on my side. Inconsistent training leading up to race day left me in a little funk so I just didn't have the normal mojo going.

The field was deep again. And a lot of fast guys. We all took off like being shot out a cannon. I missed my pedal and floundered around trying to clip in until I ended up in about 8th place. But I was OK with this as it was the same situation as PLRA XC. The pace was high and the lead pack of 7 stayed wheel to wheel. I was feeling OK but not great. I felt the pace was manageable, but know someone was going to test the waters soon. I was still on the tail end, and was looking for opportunities to start working toward the front 3. Then through a long false flat section, around a downed tree, I some how dropped my chain and ended up with my nut smashed on my top tube. That was it, as I dragged my bike back onto the trail, the lead group was gone! I finally got the chain back on and began to chase. I pushed hard, but felt real sloppy. I slowly pick up 2 guys that were from the lead group. This gave me confidence, but I still had know ideal how many more were left, or how far ahead they were. On the beginning of the 2nd lap, I caught Dan Sterling. He was cooked. I asked him how far the others were. He told me about 1 min. and that there were 5! UGH! my confidence was going the other way now. And I was also feeling like I just didn't have the punch needed to pull back the leaders. I still marched on and figured maybe luck would come back on my side.

Half way through the lap, the 40+ guys began to catch me. This was really not a good sign. Then Jimmie Colflesh and Jeff Payn caught me. I stayed with these guys figuring this was the last train I could ride to try and catch the others in my group. With about 3 miles or so left, Ben Christian caught me. I knew it was over. This was the final nail. I wasted too much time and energy trying to play catch up and today was not going to be my day. 7th.

Huge congrats to Aryn Pongratzs for take the 3rd step. And Dub-9 for another 2nd!

Jeff Payn for 3rd in the fast old man's group.

DC for landing on the podium in elites.

Yankee Springs next...