Black Dog Finale

The weather held out for the final Black Dog. It was a little sticky and humid, but light winds made for some fast times. Several battles were waged, including a battle between Lunatic Biker, Jordan, and Kristy Kreme for a Gopher Wheelmen hat offered up by Sherry Berde. There were no less than 4 tandems racing as well, including Jordan and me, Charlie and Sherry, and Ray and Debbie.

Jordan and I got early starts for our solo efforts, then did the tandem at the end. We had to scramble a bit because I had to switch his only set of pedals from his bike to the tandem after his solo effort.

My solo effort went very well, right up until the end. I got a rear flat on my clincher disc in the final turn under the Cedar Ave bridge. Luckily, I was able to stay upright and ride it in without losing too much speed, although I almost lost it a couple times. It probably cost me 5-10 seconds. I still finished in 14:54, meaning I probably was on a pace to set my PR.

Kristy was looking fast on her "Jordan Slayer" and Lunatic was sporting some clip-on bars from Kruiser. There was smack talk back and forth leading into this, so it was definitely for bragging rights. The result: Jordan broke 18 minutes for the first time, finishing in 17:46. That's a full 2 minutes faster than his time at the first Black Dog this season. Way to go buddy! Kristy had a run in with some punk kids not once, but twice. Bummer. She rode an 18:48, which was very close to her PR of 18:43, in spite of the punks. Lunatic scored a PR in 18:28. Here is Jordan proudly sporting his spoils from the friendly rivalry.



After our solo efforts, and the scramble to switch the pedals, we warmed up a little. Jordan and I haven't ridden the tandem once this year, but we were ready to try and beat our PR from last year of 15:24. We had a great ride, and broke 15 minutes, clocking a 14:57. On top of that, we beat Charlie and Sherry for the first time by a measly 1 second. Ray and Debbie rode their princess dragger to a time of 21:41. Nicely done.

The father-son battle in the Mittelstaedt family went to Dad Steve who clocked his first time under 20 minutes in 19:37. Jake rode his second fastest time ever in 21:05. Dad is still the fastest at Black Dog, at least until next year.

A couple of my Masters 50+ teammates had great nights as well. Dave Ludwigson won in a time of 15:53, and John Stamm posted his fastest time ever of 16:00. Well done guys.

There was also $100 on offer to anyone who could beat Doug Swanson's course record of 13:50. Timmer was closest in his second fastest time of the year of 14:15, so the record stands.

Here is a summary of all the times I wrote down:
Timmer - 14:15
Haas - 14:34
Casper - 14:39
Jimmer- 14:54
Shishilla - 14:54
Jimmer/Jordan - 14:57 (tandem)
Charlie/Sherry - 14:58 (tandem)
Ludwigson - 15:53
Stamm - 16:00
Jordan - 17:46
Lunatic Biker - 18:28
Kristy Kreme - 18:47
Steve Mittelstaedt - 19:37
Jake Mittelstaedt - 21:05
Lunatic/Debbie - 21:41 (tandem)

Here is a shot of Kristy collecting her 1st place series prize money for Women's Stock.


Here is a shot of Jordan and Jake who finished 1st and 2nd in the Juniors under 15 for the series.


Here is a shot of Shishilla and I who finished 1st and 2nd for the series in the Masters 35+. It was a close battle, with only a total of 7 seconds difference over the entire series, with me averaging 14:55, and John averaging 14:56. What a close battle.