My third race was the Sprit Mountain Cross Race in Duluth, MN. The course was about a third single-track, with the rest on gravel roads or wide paths, with the occasional muddy section and bulldozer thrown in for effect. The weather was perfect for cross–sunny and cool.

I went off of the line with about thirty riders. The first part of the course was a long section of gravel, first going down, then up. Everyone was charging for the 180 at the end of the gravel road, and then everyone slowed to make the turn. I can’t remember who made the turn in what order, but I bet it was close to the final results.

We rode around a machine shed, jumped a barrier, and hopped back on fast to avoid crashing on the singletrack that followed. Just to the right of the singletrack was a four foot drop. The trail snaked through the woods, going over some ruts and rocks here and there, and back to another gravel road.

I passed on these roads whenever I could, ending up riding some laps with a Flanders rider and Peter from Grumpy’s.

The rest of the course was pretty open, with a fast barrier on level ground, a run-up, and a sort of muddy barrier. These and the singletrack made the course great.

Eventually the Flanders guy lost some steam, and it was just me and Peter. I got a gap on him once, after he tripped on a barrier, but he made up the distance after about half a lap.

I stuck on his wheel for the rest of the race. The finish line sat about 100 meters from some singletrack. The tricky part was the sharp right from the singletrack to the finishing stretch, which was in some loose dirt.

I followed Peter out of the trail, took the turn a little sharper, and gave it all I had. I thought I had it, but then noticed that I didn’t know where the line really was, and that Peter was right next to me. He ended up taking the sprint for 12th, but it was a fun end to a hard race.

N8 from Minneapolis.