RUMOR: There are Mountain Bike Races in Nebraska!

Well, now Iowa gets a lot of grief for having a mountain bike series.  My East Coast friends laughed out loud when I told them such.   So when I heard there was mountain bike races in Nebraska, I laughed as hard.  Iowa may appear to flat but we have rivers which creates bluffs.  Nebraska on the other hand looks like a pre-teen.  So I jaunted over there a few weeks ago (I know it is a late report but I did GO to Nebraska) and guess what?  It shares a river with Iowa which means, mountain bike racing is happening!

Much to my surprise I saw some pink racing over there.  Do you gals not know the meaning of taking a weekend off?    There was our own Joann showing those corn gals how to throw it down on the single track.   The first race was a time trial and short track race.  A time trial is pretty simple:  one course, riders start every minute of so and you ride as fast as your legs can carry you!  Oh and throw in some roots, drops. climbs and twisty turns.   Then on the same day, you hop back on and you race a short track.....that is many laps of a course that is a bit shorter than a regular mountain bike race.   After all of that Joann came out in 4th.   That is doggone impressive.

I usually don't write too much about spouses and such but a big shout out needs to go to Joe S.  He rocked the same courses to take 1st place.   That is some Iowa smack tossed on Nebraska.    He then came back to take 2nd on Sunday (see picture).  Great job Joe! 

Now if you are going to travel over for one day of racing, you might as well find a second race.  So Joann laced up her shoes, massaged down her legs and hoped back on for the Swanson Mountain Bike race on Sunday in the Cat 2.   Her first day of riding was going to pay big dividends for Joann.   She made the Pink Gals proud by taking 2nd over all.   My pink hat off to Joann for this awesome weekend of racing.

Believe it or not there seems to have been a bit of a change in Lee's race plans for this year.  For the past several years, she has been tearing up the road almost every weekend racing crits and road races, and making the Pink Team proud.   You can imagine my surprise to see her little pink rear end racing around Swanson on Sunday.  Yes, she was looking mighty fine.  In her first mountain bike race she took 2nd.  Kudos to Lee on a fine debut.

So there may be mountain bike racing in Nebraska, but the Iowa took over lots of podium places!

Your Roving Race Reporter,

Luann