Cornhusker State Games

Well the State Games are over. It was my first year of racing at the state games. Last year I signed up for two events, one was basketball and the other was biking. I didn't know until a week or so before the games started that both events were on the same day. So I decided to play ball instead. This year I made sure I only signed up for one event. Here is a little bit of detail of how my day went.

The night before the race was a tough one. I was able to get everything ready to go the night before so all I had to do was eat and load up in the morning. Now the night started out good until Trey kept waking us up every hour during the night. I'm not sure why he was doing that but he likes to do that every once in a while. I just wished he could of waited for another night. Oh well, in the morning I got up in time to get ready to go to the race. I ate, packed my drinks and started to load up the car. As I'm walking out I noticed I had a flat. I just replaced the rear tire with slime tires and for some reason it still went flat. I'm not sure why and I didn't have time to find out. So I did a quick pit stop at home by swapping out my tubes. After messing around with that for about 10 min I was on my way and just in time to register for my race. Luckily I made it out to Wilderness the night before for about 5 miles because I had no time to warm up before the race. So after all that fun I still had 10 miles of racing ahead of me.

Lap 1: We found out that all age groups in beginners were starting at the same time. So instead of 14 in my group all going at once we had over 30 starting at the same time. All I know is that I wanted to try to be up front when we reached the actual trails. I started behind Justin and Dan which was a good move on my part because I just followed them out of the crowd with no problems. So by the time we got to the trees it was Dan, Justin, and then me leading the pack. We had a good lead on the pack which was good because right away into the trees I nailed Justin's back tire which bumped me off my bike. Luckily It wasn't that bad and I was able to get right back on without anyone passing me.

So on we went in that order for a while. Once we got to the service road I was able to get around Justin to take 2ND place. I stayed there for a bit until I missed my mark on a turn and got passed. Not to long after that I passed him back going up a hill. Now over the last few week's we've been riding this course a few time. Unfortunately we rode it the opposite way that the race ran it. It seem tough running it this way. More hills. So due to the hills I wasn't able to keep second long. I got passed by another guy to put me into third. I wasn't able to keep up with Dan and the other guy so most of the time I was riding alone. Before the end of the first lap I was able to catch up with them for a bit and then they were gone. I guess Dan had some troubles with a mud spot that slowed both of them down.

Lap 2: Not much different here, I did see Justin a few time catching up with me but other than that I was alone most of the time. The hills kick my butt a few times on the second lap. I had to get off my bike once to finish one hill, I'm not sure why I have troubles like that must be my full suspension or maybe I just need to train better on the hills.

So out of the signal track I came for the last mile or so of the course and guess what no sign of the top 2 guys. I went as hard as I could to the end and finished 3rd place overall, 2nd in my age group. I expected to see Justin right behind me but no luck. It ended up he got a flat right at the end and ran with his bike for about a mile for a bronze finish in our group. Congrats man. Rob was in the thick of things to, he ended up with a 5th place finish with his age group.

So after all the flats I had over the last two weeks it was Justin's turn with the trouble flats. Hopefully he has better luck this weekend. He's heading to Wyoming for a 70 mile enduro race. WOW! 70 miles that's crazy. Good luck Justin and Robb.

I hung around to see Harp finish 4Th in the sport class and Robb finished 4Th in his age group to. Great job guys. Sport guys have one more lap then beginners. I'm a long way before I can start racing sport. I have hard enough time with 2 laps. Hopefully I'm ready to try next year.

Also I wanted to thank my brother Lance and his girlfriend Ashley who cheered me on during the race. You guys are the first to witness me race. My wife and kids wanted to be there but because of the late night with Trey they just stayed home. That's ok will be racing there again in September.

Now I have two day off of work and then back to my old routine. I'm hoping to get back to riding to work again to help train for the next race in August. The next one is at Tranquility Park. I would like to ride it sometime before the race. Any other takers? I hear its just like Maskenthine.

The last push to the finish

Little bit of mud on the bike.

Me and my Bro.

Thanks again for the pictures Ashley. Someone else was taking pictures during the race, but not sure who.