Bluff Charge- Use to be hotter... + a Buck

The drive is a once a year or every other year deal... South to Mankato. Two things the same- the trail, and not much shade. Changed, the race was moved up in schedule... That means the july heat turns to june heat. Hot this year but not as hot as the year Pirate and I wanted to hide under the pirate ship...

Rode down with the Stairmaster (aka Cellular Cowboy aka Eddie). He show, I was ready to load his stuff in my car, he couldn't decode the reload, so he drives and I load. ha. POINT

Skip drive chronollgy, said above. First series race of year. Have to decipher all the pre race puzzles, plus add in a few tech tips... New riddles, eat an orange just prior. Pop salt pills http://www.hammernutrition.com/ just prior. More time for warm up (old man needs more time)...

At line, plenty of experts showed... Large field good, less time in no mans land. Off start was routine, up first hill, watchout for potholes. First lap was slow, rodies in the tech downhills were blocking- level 7. Lap 2 pushed and felt eyes bleed, pass more then passed me so plus, up to 8-9. Lap 3 sort of popped and recovered, back to 8. Lap 4 Weyrens (hat off) reeled me in and pass as I was pushing to pass a lapped Comp crashed and tweeked the shifters/ brake lever, stayed 8 tried to get to 9. Lap 5 game was forget about mechanicals brewing and just push forward, brain riddle kept me at 8...

Recap- Mankato is the same but different. Earlier in year means less heat. The 3 old school type downhills per lap were a treat. Roots, cupped trail, moon dust, and straight down fall line... Nice.

Hope this number of experts shows for season... Less no mans land, more carrots...

Hope Series gets there database straight. Beyond confusion when names aren't correct or missed. Believe or not little things like that keep people from showing...

+ a Buck-
This week same theme as last, only now it's a steam turbine base out of alignment. The turbine powers from steam and drives a rather large induction fan to properly keep boiler temps in check. Well years of vibration cause stuff to misalign, and thats no good. Good news this week is I have plenty of experts to keep me from messing up. Then to Buck, old man body feeling better of late, recovery from mankato was good, transfered into good push at buck... Had best start in years, on the ARS for a lap, then faded a bit, went down in a sand wash for the Sandberg to get me... Kept telling him to leave Comp alone, he belongs where he use to be back in the day...  Finished it up wanting 4 more laps... Was a 9 exert for 10th.

Still no pics. Hope to have fancy phone figured out to snap those on bike poses like the cool dot com riddlers do...