Bloomer and Beyond

The weekend of May 29th had Jeff at Bloomer and Jimmie racing in Wisco-land. Jimmie faired well, while Jeff didn’t.

According to Jimmie it was hotter than Hades in Wisco. The heat along with the long drive up for the Big Ring Classic took its toll on him and Melissa. Jimmie told me that the heat was draining and that hydration played an important part in this race. Even after the long drive he managed to pull out a 5th place finish in the elite men’s 30-39 category. Jimmie’s been tearing it up and is ramping up for the Lumberjack 100 in June.

Jeff showed up at Bloomer for the local Tailwind Series. After a 15 mile warm up ride with his wife, Christine, on the Paint Creek Trail, he was ready to take on the Sport Clydesdales. The race started out with no hitches. Jeff was sitting tight in second place until some guy crashed out in the switchbacks in front of him. At that point he hit a root and burped his front tire. After a quick fill and dropping to third place, Jeff came through after the first lap grabbed a great hand up from Christine and started out for lap two of the three lap race.

That’s where it all went to hell. Right after the sledding hill Jeff realized that he had blown up his rear hub, essentially turning it into a fixie, and had to pull out for a DNF. That’s bike racing for you.

Jeff did get to hang out with some of his old teammates from the PrecisionMTB.com team, so all was not lost!

Next up Todd and Wendy are heading up to the MMBA Northern Chapter Summer Solstice Ride while Jeff will be at the American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure in Brighton.