Memorial Weekend East and North

A good weekend in Burlington. The races started Friday night with the Wapello-Burlington race. Two riders from North Iowa Spin competed in the Cat 5 race, Mark Dix and Steve Rusher. It was a pretty flat 33 mile course. There were a couple of bad wrecks that gave Mark Dix a bit of a scare but managed to get through them. Rumor has it that Mark may be thinking about retirement after that crash. But knowing mark he’ll be back on his horse to race another day, another Wednesday! The race started with 53 riders and 44 finished. Over all Mark Dix and Steve Rusher held on till the end, Steve finished 17th and Mark with 28th. Well

The Snake Bites! Saturday was the Snake Alley crit in downtown Burlington. The morning races started with Jr. 10-12yr olds with North Iowa Spin youngster Aspen Curtis. She gave an awesome effort but just ran out of gears. We are all looking forward to Aspens next race! Matt Curtis and Andy Johnson raced the challenging and wet Cat 5 race with 53 people at the start and 33 finishing the 8 laps. Matt Curtis finished 10th and Andy Johnson at 18th. Evan Peterson raced the Cat 4 race with 57 others at the start and 47 finishing the 12 laps. Evan finished 15th.

A couple of race notes: Always double check your pre-registration form when pre-registering for seeded start line like the Snake! Second note – Lower chain ring is needed when entering the snake.

South Range Wisconsin Road Race: Tim journeyed to the top of the cheese state for a 52 mile road race. Going into this race I was pretty un-sure about where my fitness was at given the results of the last two races I was in. Iowa City – I get blown OTB (off the back) on the first lap and limped in to a top 15 and in the Gilbert race I was not able to stay wit the lead group up and over the hill just after Evan and I tried t solo away from the lead group. I tried to tell Evan to sit up, but these young one’s just don’t listen to their elders. Need less to say I was not entering this race with a lot of confidence.

We started just after the WISport group made up of all sizes, sexes and skills. We had a nice group of around 20 for the 4/5. The course was a 16 miles square with the winds blowing around15-20 mph. I recognized a few loons and a few guys that have made it down for the BBBQ race. No one really knew how this race would go and once we hit the top of the hill you knew it was going to be a race of attrition. The group was in a constant echelon with about 10-12 guys pulling through. On the last lap and going over the 2 mile hill for the last time we were down to 9 guys and I was feeling really good but tired enough to know that the sprint was going to be close as everyone had been working hard right up to the finish.

As it ends up the Loons go 1-2 and I come in 5th place. Was a fast (just under 23mph) and clean race with everyone riding hard.
All and all it was a very painful but successful weekend for the NI Spin.

Pictures…