Yankee Springs Time Trial - April 19, 2009

Another great day of racing as the season kicked off today with the Yankee Springs Time Trial. Yankee Springs is located on the West side of Michigan several miles South of Grand Rapids. Yankee Springs is a state park and the Deep Lake trail used for the event is 11.5 miles in length. This trail has it all with it's mix of fast flowing terrain and the light showers today kept the sand nice and firm. This time trial is an annual event that draws crowds (over 500) that rival Iceman. It always reminds me of the first day of school. Visiting with friends after a long winter. This year a change was made to the Expert and Elite classes and the race length was expanded to 2 laps. I pre-registered in my age class (50+ Expert) and also the Expert/Elite Singlspeed class. My usual per-race confusion was compounded by the rain, my ill-fitting team kit, and my geared bike was not shifting very well. I made a game-day decision to run the singlespeed for both events. I went with a 32x16 by 29'er which gave me 58.0 gear inches. In hindsight, I coulda' used something a little less tall for this trail. The start was well organized and I had no real issues out on the course. There was a lot of traffic to contend with and passing was very important. With the majority of the trail in tight singletrack you needed to make opportunities or risk becoming the caboose. My 2nd lap went smoother although it was also slower. My legs felt good, yet, I knew I was plodding along. I would crank it up and then I would lose my speed and struggle to get moving again. It was a tough rhythm. I eventually hooked up with another singlespeeder as we exchanged leads and this helped bring the tempo up. I finished and got ready for the singlespeed race. While busy warming up in my car I missed my start time and jumped in at the back of the Sport class. Needless to say, I had a hard time getting around many of these riders. I would have to wait for one of the rocky climbs when the masses would dismount and I would hike-a-bike sprint past them to get around them. I finished strong and succeeded in finishing DFL (Dead Fucking Last). It's all good. Our team had many riders who did very well. We have some new talent and this is just the beginning of another fantastic racing season!
RESULTS.