Yes, once again Chicago’s prime Emissaries of Skate, travel abroad. To Minnesota, this time, to do battle with our minds, bodies and a nicely maintained 26.2 mile stretch of asphalt and concrete. It was great to see other Chicagoians there with us, Team Rainbo made a showing with a strong contingent, and the mighty Heidi was in fine form as always.
(Special message for Chicago skaters only!)
Next year Chicago, this is the place to get your feet wet
in a really fun, well organized event. At night after the
race there are parties, a downtown skate with BEER. You
don’t have to be a professional skate nut to have
fun here. Everyone challenges themselves at their own
level. This year’s skate consisted of over 3000
skaters, half of which signed up as recreational skaters
- equating to times and speeds that you’d experience
on typical Wednesday or Thursday night social skate in
Chicago.
 Eddy Matzger draws a crowd while giving a clinic on concerving energy while maxamizining power. |
To help keep my mind off of next
day's race, I try to figure out how to down two
full plates of the spaghetti dinner. No just
kidding, the food was good, only I need a food
stylist on these photo trips. (Spaghetti not shown to avoid a lengthy legal battle.) Later in the
night, I find a novel thing to worry about.
Instead of sleeping, I can't seem to imagine how
I'll manage to find the coordination to get my
camera out during the race. It's one thing I
haven't practiced. |
 6:30 am and nobody want's to be photographed. |
|
| Racers in the ready area, as the sun begins to rise. |  |
 A very civilized staging area has
some of us looking bright and chipper. |
 Tom sees the light of day. |
 Very little hard facts here; here's George (?) from Seattle (?). We met on last years party bus to Athens during A2A. George I sure hope I'm skating 15, 20 years from now. Great to see you again. |
 Right to left; Tom Heidi and the "Bobarazzi". Notice please, this photo is snapped by our local Salomon Rep, Mark Paulson. See any skates in this picture? |
 A few thousand friendly skaters. So friendly that this gentleman wanted to buy the gels right off of Heidi's wrists. |
|
 Moments after the start, this shot fails to capture the magnitude of skaters in the road as we all work to find our rhythm. |
 Early morning draft pack. |
 The skating begins to get serious as the draft lines tighten up. |
 I know it looks like he's coasting, but I’m working in front of him. |
 A great over the shoulder shot of some serious skating. |
 Yes, you can even compete in a wind breaker! |
 A skater who pulled and skated with me for a good ten miles. |
 Headin' home. I love a town that's willing to close down the freeway to let skaters through. |
 Skaters turning it on over the last two miles. |
 Home sweat home. Finishing times for our group, Tom 1:30; the "Bobarazzi" 1:35; Heidi 1:41; Mark 1:51 great times all. (Note: that 1 hour 35 minutes is with an axle problem I had to stop and repair, and who the hell do you think took all these pictures during the race?) |
 Your lungs can be as tired as your legs. |
|
 Chris Keiser looking fresh. Wait 'til that little one on the way has you up all night Chris, then try to look fresh in the morning. |
 Cale, another team Rainbo skater and Tom comparing times. |
 The finishers' shirt says it all. |
 Prime examples of helmet head. Surprised and pleased by our times, it's off to the hotel, for a shower with time to make it back to the finish area to see the last few skaters come in. |