Adam Schmidt and his crew did another fine job preparing the Wausau 24 mountain bike race this year. Participation was up this year as were the event services. After setting up my tent on Friday night, my brother and I (racing together in the 12-hour duo category), walked up to the giant tent at the transition area and were served a delicious pint of fresh and local Red Eye beer.
The race itself was not without classic Nine-Mile weather surprises. In the past there has been sweltering heat, cold nights, massive downpours, tornado warnings, etc. This year I was rolling past a water station in the woods and overheard a volunteer gingerly mention that there was going to be about 30 minutes of rain coming.
I finished my lap and upon emerging from the dark forest I saw that his prediction may well come true. There were dark clouds blowing in from the west. My brother left for our team’s fifth lap. A short while later the wind kicked up and the rain started. Across the camp area I saw everyone lowering their canopies and securing the rain flys on their tents. Then it really started to rain.
It poured. For an hour. With lightning.
The race was suspended due to the lightning. My brother’s lap, as well as everyone else’s at the time, were cancelled. The race was postponed for about 2-1/2 hours.
Now, Nine Mile County Forest is impressive at handling water. I’ve seen it before. One minute there will be a river flowing through the camping area, then next minute, it will all have been absorbed into the gravely soil. But, this is a mountain bike race in the woods. As the race resumed and riders headed off into the trees, we all knew those well-rested, clean-looking riders were in for a treat.
Sure enough, after about 50 minutes on a slightly revised course, the first of the riders came through covered in dark brown, sandy, humus from helmet to cleats. One particular stretch of rocky singletrack after mile marker 7 became a treacherous grease pit. I walked through that section for the remainder of my laps.
All-in-all, it was another great event. And I must say there is nothing better than spotting the pizza delivery guy pull up at 10:45pm with 40 new boxes of pizzas after missing the first round of pies by just a few minutes.
Below are a few photos from the event. The swag bag included Power Bar Energy Bites, Power Bar Harvest, Hammer Gel, Pro Bar fruition, Cascadian Farm granola bar and cereal, a tiny Larabar nugget, a t-shirt, and a water bottle. Nice!
