What was beautiful singletrack on Saturday became a mudfest on Sunday as heavy rains pounded Stewart State Forest and continued through the first lap. In the open class Mark Elsasser came in 14th and Chris Wurster taking up the rear opting for the fun aspect of the event as you can see from this shot.

Well the "Queen of America's Classics" is in the books as my first ever road race. Rode at a maximum of 85% effort to use this as a test run to see how my hip would hold up under a good amount of climbing and racing. Was smart enough to get in the front end of the pack and avoid the crash a 1/2 mile in, but learned the hard way that you pay a big price for slipping off the back of the 15 man group on the climb. Rest of the ride was either solo or in 2-3 man groups which hurt with a 15 mph headwind. Finished 14th, had a great time, but even better I came away almost pain free which bodes well for the Wilderness 101.