ACTUAL Fat Tire Loppet Results

I raced my first fat bike race about 2 months ago, and I enjoyed it! I noted in my race report that I was 1st out of 7 in my age group, even after taking a wrong turn. Well, the results have now been updated, and I'm back "where I belong:"

Same finish time, but now 24th out of 91 overall (instead of 23 out of 90), and back to 6th out of 15 in my age group (instead of 1 out of 7).

(And Matt dropped to 2nd out of 14 in his age group, and 8th out of 91 overall, down from 1 out of 4 in his age group and 7 out of 90 overall.)

Oh, and in that video screenshot above, I'm behind the clock to the right, and that's the guy in the raccoon suit who passed me just before the finish on the left. I'm glad he made my "finisher's video." :)

Looking at the results and how I had been riding just in front of Matt for the middle of the race before taking a wrong turn that had LOTS more hills added in, it appears I would have finished 2nd in my age group if I stayed on course. The winner of my age group was 2nd overall and 5 minutes faster than Matt, so that was never in the cards for me. And then 2nd in my age group finished 4 minutes behind Matt, and there's no reason I wouldn't have been in front of him. (Err... except for the reason of taking a wrong turn and doing a big hilly loop that wasn't part of the 20K course that I was racing... DAMN IT.)

So I've made an ammendment to my race report. Still had a fun race, still wished I didn't go off course, but just happy I stayed upright and didn't hurt myself on a new bike for the first time!

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More Random Photos from the City of Lakes Loppet (Ski, Snowshoe, and Fat Bike)

I did my first fat bike race last month, and it already feels like it was a year ago! I shared a few photos that my friend Cam took from throughout the race (including 2 of me at the finish) about 2 weeks ago. Here are a few more random photos from the weekend of events from the different links found on the Loppet Foundation website:

Before us fat bikers destroyed the course, they had ski races.


Nicely groomed trails near the finish.


Two "lanes" each of classic and free-style skiing at the finsh.


There was a skijoring race that looked like a BLAST! Love the dog here!

There was a 37K race that went off before we started our 20K race, but there was a snowshoe race that started before both of those. Here's fast runner Melissa Gacek heading off Cedar Lake:

More snowshoers.


Shoer and and skier.


Tongue out for the camera!


While looking through other photos, I found one of a mass-start of one of the ski races!


The first little tunnel leaving Bde Maka Ska
(notice the snow packed in the middle on top of the ice).


Heading across that little channel about to go under the Greenway Trail.


And here's the 37K riders about read to start! That's Sean C in the blue.

Here are some from when a photographer jumped down to that area that I described as "a NARROW little tunnel (practically a culvert) as we left Cedar Lake for the tiny Brownie Lake" in my race report. Here were the lead fat bikers of the 37K coming through:

Matt's coach is in the lead, and he ended up winning it all!


That tunnel might look plenty big, but look at the distortion happening
because of the photographer's wide angle lens - it was NOT a wide tunnel!


Sean Cooley in the lead pack (ended up 4th overall).


Another pack coming through later.


It looks plenty wide here...


... but notice it even steps down narrower on the right!

OK, it wasn't SUPER narrow, but it still made me "white knuckle" it a bit as I tried to zip through there at high speeds in my first ever fat tire bike race! Maybe I'm just not brave.

Here's the bearded guy who had a sweet frozen
beard in my first "race photos" post from 2 weeks ago!


A shot from above the tunnel.


Looking out onto Cedar Lake.


Snowshoers and fat bikers. (I can't place exactly where this is.)


It's rare to see a good "full sprint" photo of a snowshoer. This one is good!






I like this vantage point looking over the hill near the finish
(but you have to loop around a lot more and still have a ways to go).


This guy did the longer 37K like this, and as I noted in my
race report, he passed me in the finisher's chute. :)

Sorry, but I couldn't find any photos of me or Matt in ANY of these other albums on the Loppet Foundation website. Just a few of us that my friend Cam took that I shared recently. Still, I like how all of these albums show fun different parts of that weekend in early February.

Here's my race report if you missed it, and here are some photos from my friend Cam of the fat bike races.

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Official Photos from the City of Lakes 20K Fat Bike

In my race report last month, I noted that I saw a friend from high school just after finishing my first fat bike race. He was taking photos at the finish line, and I didn't recognize him in my exhausted stupor (which is what I said in Saturday's post). He recently messaged me with a link to his album of nearly 500 photos. Here are 30 that I'd love to share from my old friend Cam:

Leaders of the 33K fat bike race (that went off an hour before we did in the 20K).
I believe this is leaving Cedar Lake and heading onto tiny Brownie Lake.


The 4 leaders would end up being the top 4 (in a different order). And there's Mr. Cooley waving!


The guy in the racoon suit who passed me with a few seconds left in the race.


I smell a triathlete!! ;) (To be fair, Sean had aero bars too.)


I never saw her out there, but here's race buddy (and occasional triathlon teammate) Jenn!


Single-file into the wind. It was NO FUN riding north that day!

The 33K riders split off and did some loops through a park that us 20K riders didn't have to do, and here are 3 photos of that:

Like I mentioned a lot in my race report, there were plenty of times where walking was faster.


People off their bikes in the distance - tight turns on uphills was TOUGH.

I think these next 3 are around Wirth Lake (a section that both distances did), and that's when I mentioned we really started to catch some of the 33K riders:

I think that's Writh Lake in the background. This was the "good" side of the lake...


... and then on the "bad" side of the lake, there was LOTS of walking/running up rutted hills!

At that point, it would seem that Cam took off for the finish line. His first photo at the finish shows the winner trying not to die after he finished. And as I noted in my race report, it was actually my brother-in-law's coach:

Chase on the ground.




A nice shot of the winner of the 33K!


Sean Cooley always looking photogenic.


Cam getting a photo of Hannah getting a photo of Sean. So meta.


Jenn (on the left), and that might be Patti on the right?

When Matt came to the line, he noted that the female winner had just passed him (she beat him by a second). Here's Cam getting photos of the winner about to be "wreathed" (is that a verb?) as Matt's in the black being cut off by the edge of the frame on the left:

Brother-in-law Matt! Nice job!


Probably thinking "now how long do I have to wait for
dumbass Steve after I saw him take that wrong turn?..."


Icy beard at the finish!


A close-up!


There's the raccoon!! That means I'm about to finish!...


Non-epic finishing photo, trying to stop my new Garmin.


Close-up of my "exhausted stupor" where I wasn't able to recognize H.S. buddy Cam.


I was told to smile for a photo, but I didn't know who I was
smiling at yet! (This is super funny to me looking back on it.)


Close-up with sweat dripping off my nose.


YWCA teammate Anne took 2nd in our 20K race!


Love this!


A final nice shot of the finish line.

Here's all of Cam's photos if you want to take a look! Nice seeing you (even for a moment) Cam!

And here's my race report if you missed it.

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