It's Here

The first race is this weekend at Iola, Wisconsin. The weather this spring can be summed up in one word: WET. Fortunately, the Iola course is very sandy and so water usually helps this course.

I feel that I have prepared about as well as I could given the weather. The one thing I have not been able to do is ride off road with the single speed. So tomorrow I'm going over to Iola to pre-ride the course with a guess as to gearing. Many people have recommended I start with a 2 to 1 ratio. I'll be close to that using a 34x18 combination. Since my bike is a 29er that combination works out to be a little taller than a 2 to 1 on a 26 inch bike.

I had the PowerTap record from the Iola race last year and I think that the 34x18 gear should work on that course. The pre-ride should give me a good indication if I'm right and, if not, I can change the gearing before the race Sunday.

Mike