Fat Tire Fest!

Eric and I headed up to Cable for the big 40 miler at the Chequamegon Fat Tire Fest a couple of weeks ago. Eric with a man's gear of 34-16 and his new (as in not for sale yet) Salsa 29er, me with my standard 34-18 Waltworks Eno-ified. I think we were both pretty happy with how our races went. Maybe me more-so as I was the top SPHer at 3:20 or something like it.

Some highlights for me of the race weekend:

- hanging out with Norma, Katie, Lars and Eric
- getting to the start area with about 10 minutes to spare. Looks like we'll have tons of people to pass.
- Katie and Nora's water bottle hand-up about halfway through. THAT HELPED SO MUCH!
- "SON OF A #&$%@!!" as I passed Eric on a hill
- the lovely sound of gears and chains and cassettes popping and cracking after a couple hours of damp sandy goodness
- feeling like a superman as I passed tons of geared riders every hill... seriously... is the granny gear that necessary???

One thing I learned: I either I'm a freaking beast (doubtful) or I need to get a clue about how to maintain my drivetrain. Tally after the big puddles of the 40? New Bottom Bracket, New Freewheel, new hub.

NEXT YEAR: Utter domination of at least 20 more people!!!