a McGuire win in Marshall, Minnesota

Saturday, August 28th, 2005 - The Camden Classic!

A lovely, sunny Saturday out here on the Prairie. I met a bunch of roadie rider's at the Lyon County Fairgrounds at the reasonable hour of 8am (none of those California oh-dark-thirty wake up calls, as the fairgrounds are a 5 minute bike ride away from home!) to help at registration for the "ride" part of the event. On offer was a 10 mile, 20 mile or 40 mile ride. Nothing too staggering---but a social gathering (Charlie Moore would have enjoyed this one!) of like-minded individuals, gathering with friends and family to enjoy a morning ride together on the local roads in the community. We even provided SAG for folks ...just in case. I was going the distance for 40 miles, with a stop in the park to watch Mike do the mountain bike race. My RAGBRAI friends, Rachel & Mike, Mary & Phyllis showed up to make my day! I love these folks. I met them when I first moved to town and they have brightened my days in more ways than I can put into words.

By the time our ride finished they were just getting ready to do the expert race. Mike was the only rider on a cross bike, everyone else was on fat tire mountain bikes for the single track event. It was a mass start, with a fun group of folks. I forgot how much fun mountain bike races were, especially for spectators. There are booths and food and "kid events", and everything is casual and friendly. No "road-bike" snobbery (of which on my fancy-bike I am as guilty as the next guy!).

As they sounded off and the crowd cheered on the racer's, Mike was leading the pack quickly into the first turn onto the single track. Cody Van Overbeke, a co-worker of mine in the bike shop, was hot on his wheel. Cody could race this course with his eye's closed probably, and his mountin bike handling skills are top-notch.

"Rider #136 is at the bridge!" I heard on the loud speaker. That's Mike! Woo hoo! The laps were 6 miles...with some steep, twisty climbs and descents and Mike's first lap was done in 21 minutes. The next rider to come through the start/finish, was Cody...3 minutes or so later. Mike was crushing! He still had two laps to go though. The next lap was 22 minutes, but he was so far in front you couldn't believe it.

There was a pretty stiff headwind section on top of the ridge. Mike said he looked back and didn't see anybody behind him. The course is definitely a mountain biking course and so some of the steeper sections required some extra juice since he has a double chain-ring, but true to form, he powered over the climbs and finessed his way down the descents---making it look easy to the random bystander. This is deceptive indeed. The final lap was done in just over 22 minutes...with a total time of 1:05:20...a new course record!

He won a medal and a prize of $150 bones! Now that's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick! And..now our Labor Day weekend in the Black Hills for the 50 mile Dakota 5-0 race is paid for!! Woo Hoo!