Lost and Found

Getting lost and having to find your way back is something that I think most of us have had to deal with at one point in time... Like the time when you were a kid and your mom

said to stay close as you were in the department store,, only to lag behind to have

conversations with the mannequins,,, then realize that mom was no where to be found. 

As panic sets into the young mind relief is felt when over the PA system 

your name is heard telling you to come to the service desk to find a 

angry,, but happy mother,.. The felling of Lost is gone. 

It is safe to say that I have been waiting to hear my name over that PA system over the past few months.

This weekend was the first of many tests to see if I could find my old self and tow the line.

My red headed step child came down from the 612 for a weekend of bike riding and racing.

He myself and the Rocket loaded up the Rav and headed down to Iowa for the 25 running 

of the Decorah Time Trails. 

For a good while on friday the thought was we may just bail on the plan to race saturday 

due to the fact that it was raining all day in Iowa,, and I did not need my first race back 

from injury to be a sloppy mud fest.

But as breakfast was being made Saturday morning and with multiple weather

checks the decision was to head on down.. 

I love this race for many reasons,,,one of which it is only an hour from the house which almost never happens.  And it is always a good place to start the season with good competition,, hard trails and awesome people. 

The Boy was up first testing out his single speed on the Kids two or so mile course.. 

He was all smiles as he started and looked super comfortable on his new rig.   

I was the fifth to take off racing the same course as we have the past two years.. 

Choosing the single speed to make the day extra tough and that much more of a challenge. 

Getting an early start is nice not having to deal with passing people and being able to focus on the task at hand.

It did take me a bit to get my heart under control as the climbing starts right away,, and with a few of the steep nasty climbs being a touch wet the decision to get off and run/walk was made early

as to not loose much time. 

For the most part I raced pretty clean and for the first time in years I did not find my self on the ground due to pilot error..

I was about a minute slower than last year and slid down to eighth place overall 

but seeing how much time I have had on the bike and no high end work of any kind i'll take this all in and smile.. 

The Ginger went on to score a killer ride landing in Third and that is only being home from China for a week and not having spent anytime on his newly built up bike.. 

We filled our bellies at T-Bocks and headed home to rest and get ready for what was to come sunday..

Sunday was more bikes and this time under clear blue skies. 

The Bauer kid wanted two plus hours of riding dirt bikes and I was going to show him all the single track that our legs could handle.. 

We started behind the house doing a few laps on the newer to me trails then headed over to the 

Vista trail and on to HPT..

By the time we were done we had almost three hours thirty plus miles and over 3500 feet of single track climbing. 

It was a solid showing for bikes and fun in the land of the Driftless. 

Next up will be the first Minnesota race this sunday at Buck Hill,,

This will be the next test and the next place for me to see

if I can find that lost boy..

Head Down Chin Up and Legs Churning.

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