LINCOLN PARK MOUNTAIN BIKE CHALLENGE

The big news of the day is that Sara's knee is pain free once again! A fair amount of swelling is still present along with a lack of full range of motion, but all in all the month off of racing made a huge difference. I still can't believe she didn't break her leg...

The race course starts off with a seven minute blacktop climb that is fairly steep at times. They were offering up $50 to the first person to the top of the king of the mountain climb. Jake Boyce had the right idea by leaving his bottle on top of the climb and pumping his tires way up. He had a spirited UMD racer going after the cash as well so I sat back and went pretty hard but not all out. Jake easily took the sprint and I went by him while he was letting the air out of his tires and getting his bottle. I passed the UMD rider soon after entering the singletrack and rode the singletrack smoothly because it is super rocky and easy to flat if one is trying to really race it up on these Piedmont trails. I ended up taking the win with a nice cushion.

Sara was a little hesitant at the start because she hasn't been able to ride hard on singletrack for a month. Anytime she would hit a bump it would jiggle her knee and cause intense pain. Therefore, her singletrack skills were a little off but she still took the win.

Max, a rider that took my mountain bike camp this summer also won his division in the kid's race. Way to go Max!

On a side note, I think we both won for the second year in a row at this race because we picked $52 worth of blueberries in the AM before the race. Not surprisingly, Kiera ate way more than she picked and she sure enjoys hitting all the local berry farms for the fresh treats.