Note from Daniel Musto – Summer Race Update11 Aug
I wanted to send out a mid-season thank you for all of your support. So far I’ve raced close to 800 miles (not including training) and everything has been working flawlessly. It’s definite proof of how great the product I’m racing with is!
The month of July has been busy…but a good busy. After Lumberjack I had a week to recover before I raced at the Stony Creek Marathon, which is part of the USAC-Michigan race series. My endurance paid off in this race, and I finished in 1st place with a 7 minute lead.
After that I headed out to Colorado. It was my first time training at altitude and I was able to get some good mileage in. I capped off my visit with a hundred mile race, the Breckenridge 100. I can honestly say that this was the hardest race I’ve ever done and I think others will agree with me as 48% of the field dropped out. I had to deal with altitude sickness during the race, but managed to pedal to 5th place. Even sick, I loved bombing down all of the sweet Colorado single-track.
On August 8th I competed in the 10th annual Ore to Shore Challenge in Marquette, Michigan. Ore to Shore is race #1 in the Triple Crown series and consists of 48 miles of road, double-track, single-track and a whole lot of sand pits!
The 800 person mass start was chaotic with so many people gunning for the whole shot. I knew that there were about 80 women in my field, but it was impossible to know what position I was in.
I opted to ride my Tomac Type X for the race equipped with a 2.1 Karma on the front and a 1.9 on the back. Having a wider tire in the front allowed me to float over the sand easily, and my Type X handled the road and double-track sections with ease. That is one fast bike!
I ended up crossing the finish line in 3rd place and just under 3 hours. Jenna Zander-Rinehart (Specialized) and Kyia Anderson (Cannondale) finished first and second respectively. This race was a lot of fun and it was cool to race in such a large and very competitive field! I definitely plan on going back next year.
More pictures and race info can be found here: www.mtbracenews.com/2009/08/ore-to-shore-marquette-michigan-round-1.html
Next up for me is a lot of training. From this moment forward every pedal stroke I take will be in preparation for the 24 hour National Championships in October.
Until the next race!
