Jay Richards

Another great Chequemegon weekend in the books. (Recap on skinnyski) This was the top race of the year on the mtb calendar for Jake. The training, tapering and peaking all fell into place nicely. Its a lot to put all the marbles in to one race when anything can happen but we kept in mind its not always the end result but the journey getting there. Jake has always done this race solo since the first year doing it, I don't believe in riding along or next to help out if something goes wrong. Learning by yourself has much value and I think that helped the past three years. Didn't ride as much in the early Spring. The results early season weren't the best but kept things in perspective and planned for gradual peak by mid September. Bit more motorpacing this year which really seems to help.


Getting set for the pre ride. Five miles in and five miles back. One of my favorite
things on the weekend.
Calm and cool in the roll out. Jake said the start felt much slower this year.
Trained hard for the three peat. Great job Jake.



Celebrating at the new pizza dig in Cable with family and friends. Great pie. If you haven't checked it out, be sure to do so next time rolling through. Nice to have all the support. Nephew Garrett said he felt like he was at the Olympics. Cheq is always a good race for first timers to see how much passion there is in the sport of mtb.
Had to have a little drama/excitement of course. Keys got locked in upon arriving to Telemark for Sunday Funday. Called wrecker, wife answers "he doesn't like to work on Sundays". Just as the events were wrapping up, the tow trucker came and all good.
This is my favorite picture of the weekend. Just having fun on the bike, cashing in on the skills learned in the back yard. Sunday is a great day after Saturday's race and the Maplelag team represented nicely taking most of the Fun events and placing well in the Crit Cross.
The one thing missing from Chequemegon is events for kids 8-12. Jens having a go in the hill climb. Jens is too old for the kiddie events but still 4 years shy from doing the short and fat. Jon and Jack stayed home in part there isn't much for them to do.
In partial kit action on Sunday. When we were at the hockey tourneys this summer, I would ride my bike while Jonell walked to get rid of antsinpantswenzelitis. I would ride the curbs, doing secret training for the straight line comp. Guess my name didn't get written down. All good. Fun times. Hopefully next year can get into the racing fun. Jake will be moving up to the 40 and Jonell and I might do 40 on tandem or Jack and I tandem in S and F. Thanks to my mom and dad for holding down the fort and watching Jack and friend Ramsay tooling Jon around.