Sac River 12 hour

Team 360 Fixie rendezvoused at Church's Chicken (just a descent away from the future Swope Trail mega system) to pile into Jason's car for the trip down to Springfield. We arrived at the course a short few hours later and found a prime camping spot complete with gazebo, picnic table, and monster shade tree. It began to rain as a friend of Craig's showed up who was going solo and we got to add his pop up tent to our arsenal of weather combating devices. The turnout was not looking spectacular as it neared high noon. I had been designated first lap man but was not really thinking a warm up was appropriate given the field size and drizzle that was coming down. The rain stopped as we gathered for the pre-race meeting. The organizer asked if we wanted to make it a 6 hour due to rain, it did me well to hear the resounding NO from the racers. The first lap got under way and I cruised in behind a duo racer who took the lead and I took a few miles to acquaint myself with the trail conditions and get in the grove of the fixed gear. I went around him when I sensed we were at the bottom of a substantial climb. Another climb later you were at the top of the trail system and began winding through some quite rocky terrain back down the hill. It was proper trail racing the whole lap and made for incredibly engaging fixed gear racing. My second lap it began to rain again and the course was starting to get pretty slick, luckily rolling resistance was not effected much and it was pure fun slipping and sliding around.

Jason took the next set of laps and had the first of two unfortunate tire roll offs but all in all rode two solid laps. Craig, armed with his new battle rig, stormed the trail and sent me back onto the course with a solid lead. My next two laps were amazingly fun, it was just all smiles and good times. Racing the fixed gear is a blast, one second you will ride something incredibly smooth and fast and feel like a million bucks, next thing you know you rookie some corner and feel like a total Freddy. I kept repeating the mantra of Mad-Eye Moody from Harry Potter, "Constant Vigilance." I got the goods being the first racer. My third set of laps was still in the light, although the last two miles was fairly dark it was not bonafide night laps. Jason and Craig did their last sets in the dark and then we did one lap a piece at the end so we stayed all even. My night lap was unfortunately lack luster. I felt great but just was struggling to get in a groove where I was really rocking. We finished with 21 laps, several laps ahead of second place I believe. We received a nice little check to help cover the day and reloaded into the car and hit the trail home at about 1:00. Jason continued the pace home and dropped me off sometime around 3:30 I think. Yet another awesome race and I look forward to many more team events with the Woodchucks. Add Scott into the mix and you got a 24 hour wrecking crew that will be primed for destroying the dreams of lesser teams in 2009.