The Last Lake to Lake

Lake to Lake was a big success for team Liberty! this year. The four of us all made it onto the boxes, no top steps, but close enough.

After being involved in the awful crash last year, I decided that if I did this race again I would use my cyclocross bike to reduce the chance of being boxed into a fast moving pack of sketchy MTBer's. Having an elite wave helped a lot, and as far as I know everyone made it down Elm St. safely.

With a trusty tubeless set-up, I was confident that I could handle the trails fine, and go real fast on the gravel and pavement. My MTB only has a 40 tooth big ring, a bit small for a flat race, that typically has a tail wind most of the way. Not this year though! It was quite gusty, seemingly in our face the whole way.
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The start of the race went great. Took the lead immediately and drilled it into the headwind. Looked back to see Chown towing the rest of the field up to me, so I slowed a bit. Hit the gas a few more times before the first trail to try and hurt some MTBers, and get to the first gravel trail in the lead. Made it through there successfully, and made it to the quad trails in the top 5. No problems there, came out on the service road with Souter and Wagler, and we closed a small gap on Chown and Anton who accidentally took a short-cut. These gravel sections seemed to cause the selection that formed the lead group.

In a section near the golf course, I nearly flatted by getting tangled in a nasty rut, hidden by long grass. Front tire burped a bunch of air, but hung in there for a bit. I hung on to Antons wheel for dear life as he brought the group back together, then I had to stop and shoot some CO2 into my tire before mosquito ally. Trying to make up time in there on a cx bike was a bad idea, as I wound up having a little crash on a log. Kept cool, and was confident I could get back up to the leaders on the long gravel section to come. Had them in sight for soo long, but didn't have the power to close it down. Started to hurt pretty bad before Brock, and figured I would not see the leaders again. Catching Chown just before the decent gave me hope, but the others were long gone. Thought I had lost Chown on the singletrack, but he was still close and sprinted ahead of me before Suzanne and rode it sooo slow. I couldn't tell if he was hurting, sucking at riding singletrack, or just being a dick and blocking me. Think it was all of the above.

So this was good for Justin, who caught us just after that trail, although he wouldn't stand a chance against two cross bikes on the road. Before the last singletrack bit, Chown sprinted to it first to block us, and slowed us down once again. Coming out on the gravel, Chown wouldn't pull through, so I wouldn't either, and it made for some very slow racing with only Justin seeing any wind.

In the final Km, I attacked hard from the back of the group, only to be caught by Chown and sit up. We made the final turn, the finish hill in sight, and I was waiting to attack again. I saw Chown just off my wheel, and went. Sprinted hard for the hill, then grabbed the brakes to make my way down safely. Chown never gave up though, and came around me with way too much speed on a bad line, taking himself and me down on the top of the hill. He got up fast and robbed me of fourth, not cool man!

Huge congrats to Anton for taking the win. Figured this course would suit him well, and his form is definitely good going into nationals.

See ya all there!