Decorah MTB TT

This is one of those races I have heard about for the past couple years, but never made it up to because it was always the same weekend as the Old Capitol Crit in Iowa City. This year though it is part of the IMBCS Series so it was put on the calendar, and I am glad it was. This was the 20th running of TT's in Decorah for them, the race is ran rain or shine, and once again this year it would be rain. The trails were slick in spots, mostly the exposed roots on the climbs were the spots that would prove to be challenging.

I did pre-register so I was able to select my start time, I wanted to get going early because there was still the threat of rain all day. I got the 30th start time leaving the start at 10:30, got a decent warm-up on the rollers before starting as there was really nowhere else to warm-up, and roller up to the start line with about 10 minutes to start. The first 200 yards or so was a paved road leading up to the singletrack, and once you hit the woods you start climbing, really slick on the first couple parts, but was able to just sit and spin up them for the most part. Bobbled one section and took part in my first of about 5 or so hike a bike sections, but unlike in the past where I would just work my way up them at a decent pace I know I had to run them, so off I was running. We started in 1 min intervals and within the first 3/4 of a mile I had caught 2 guys that started ahead of me. The first 2 miles would be basically switchbacking up and down the frontside of the hill, almost to the point of going all the way back to the bottom only to have to climb back to the top. By mile 3 I had caught I believe 5 of the people that started before me, and was just trying to maintain a good pace.

We have now dropped down the backside of the hill and into a valley between 2 hills, so that means time to climb again. This next climb was a nice one, about 1/2 mile in length, rocky, and climbed about 200 feet verticly, I had not caught up to anyone in a while, but could start seeing people in the next couple sections ahead, so I had something to shoot for. That is the one thing I don't like about the TT is you have noone behind you pushing you all the time, and usually you don't have anyone in front of you to chase. Now we get into the really technical sections of the course, lots of off-camber side hill riding, plenty of log crossings, and really tight corners. Make it through there passing about 5 more guys, and I come up to the pine tree section and notice a BikeIowa.com jersey, it was Kurt Benson, I went past him, and was just flowing through the pines, almost a 1/2 mile section, and at one point I thought I missed a turn because there were no course markings, nothing, but finally found one and was back on the right track. Made my way back down this hill and know I was getting close to the finish, would have to climb part of the first hill once again to make it back over, dropped down through another rock garden section and down to the pavement, cross that and down to the river trail, which was mainly flat once you got through the first section, threw it into the big ring and just hammered it out to the finish line.

Looking back I would have liked to be able to pre-ride the course, maybe I could have pushed it more in some sections. Headed over to T-Bock's where they would have the results and awards ceremony, so while waiting we ordered a couple plates of fries, and a Snakebite, which is now one of my favorite drinks, Woodchuck and Guinness, sweet.

Finished the 11.2 mile race in 1hour 13minutes and 04seconds which would be good enough for a 2nd Place in Mens 32-33 category (got a sweet plaque for that) 18th Place Overall out of 87 finishers and 2 Place for the IMBCS Series in the Cat 2 Open class.