Fat Tire Fest/Chequomegon--Barb's perspective

Congratulations to Sheryl, Brooke and yeah, myself for cometeing and
placing in the Fat Tire Fest.

Results:
Sheryl ROCKED! 12th woman overall in the 40, 1st 35-29 woman!
Brooke, 11th in her age group in the Short and Fat, btw, most women
did the S&F, so a competitive group.
Me, 41st woman in the 40, 3rd 45-49 woman.

It's great they give prizes in each age group. It's such a cool race
because you see every type of racer out there. Really, really fast,
and really, really not so fast. It's amazing to see all who come out
and do the thing. Just doing the thing is a big feat in itself. If
you have never done it, I highly recommend it.

This year the course was dry, dusty and fast. On the roll out to
Rosie's Feild, Robert flew past me with Sheryl tucked close behind.
Vroom! The transistion to dirt, grass and rocks was smooth and fast
and I knew this was going to be fun. Being a roadie it took me a
little while to get used to the bouncing going down hill on the Birke
Trial. Up,down, up down. I managed to follow one woman for a while
who was so smooth and picked great lines. I lost her when my pump
broke off and stopped to retrieve it. There it lay in the middle of
the trail; I played an exciting game of Frogger getting piciking it
up as riders came flying down a small, rocky hill. Back on the bike,
here and there there were traffic jams at the one mud puddle, and a
couple of sand traps. After a while the race settled in and I was
riding with a group. I had to give it some gas to get around this
guy I'll name Mr. Stinky Jersey. I'd pass him up hill, he'd pass me
downhill. Ack! I finally did get around him, only after a few
miles. The fire roads were fun; I'd pass a bunch of people, but
they'd pass me back on rocky sections. FireTower Hill was the usual
walk, ride, walk, "oh the humanity' grunt. At the top I managed to
ask about the free beer and about 5 guys offered me one. No, I
didn't, but I was tempted. I finished strong very glad for road
endurance and the small bit of riding off road I did the past couple
of weeks. I am pumped for next year.