Cheq Fat Tire 40

Jarred and Matt on Friday's warm-up ride

Last weekend was my second trip up to the Chequamegon Fat Tire 40 mountain bike race.  They claim it's the largest mass start mountain bike race with 1750 racers toeing the line in Hayward, WI.  It was a gate system this year to get everyone in order.  It seemed to work out much better than the system that was used in years past, which was basically the race before the race to get your bike down in a good starting spot.

I had a pretty tough go at the race last year, after spending a week in Germany at Eurobike.  Despite the cramping, I ended up at 2:35:41.  It was slower than my 2:30 goal, but considering the lack of riding, I knew I could get to 2:30 this year.  And I was also hoping to get into the top 150.

I did have a trip to Norway in early September, but I tried to minimize the time off the bike.  I was feeling pretty good before leaving, and got right back on the bike as soon as I got back.  Hopefully, it would be enough to have a better race than last year.

On Thursday night, Jarred and I headed up to the Eau Claire chain of lakes northwest of cable.  We have an awesome host who puts us up in their boat house and is extremely hospitable all weekend long.  On Friday, we headed out for a warm-up ride.  I found myself with a flat tire about 1:15 into the ride.  Luckily we weren't too far away and Jarred rode back and picked me up.  Not the idea thing to happen pre-race, but I was able to find myself another Bontrager tire and get it mounted up before the night was over.

Despite the gate start, we got to the start line early to put our bikes down.  My time last year put me into gate 3.  I was able to get a great spot in the second row.  Knowing that the guys in front of my all had good results from previous years made me much less worried about the start than last year.  As the race got underway, it was clear on the 3-mile road lead-out that the gate start had done it's job.  There were of course people moving forward and backward in the group, but for the most part the start was really smooth.

As we headed onto the Birkie trail, I found my self on another TMTmate's wheel.  It was Sanjay, who had gotten into gate 2 just before the start.  He started to move up through the people and I followed.  We got into a group on some of the gravel road sections; he was up front and I was happy to sit on the back of the group.  We rolled like this for most of the race.  The group would shrink and swell, but I would just hang on the back with Sanjay more animated up front. 

I came around Sanjay before the Seeley Firetower climb, was able to get a clean line and ride the whole way up.  Sanjay must have too, as he came around me right after we crested the hill.  Around mile 35, I found myself with Sanjay and 2 other racers.  We all took our turns on the front, pushing towards the finish.  With about a mile to go, Sanjay rode away from the rest of us.  I rolled in about 30 seconds behind him, but it was good enough for a 2:24:54 time!  Much better than last year and will bump me up to gate 2 for next year's start!  It was also good enough for 133 place, so both goals for this year's race were met.

Already at the finish when I rolled in were Sanjay, Dirk, Doug, and Seth.  They had had some great results!  Jarred came in shortly after I did with close to a personal best time as well.  Here's the round up of TMT results:

Dirk: 2:18:57 (Top 100 overall and 1st place singlespeed)
Seth: 2:19:54 (Top 100 overall)
Doug: 2:20:04 (Top 100 overall)
Sanjay: 2:24:27
Matt: 2:24:54
Jarred: 2:42:05

Excellent results for the team and a great weekend in the northwoods!