The day started at 4:30am CST (I remark CST for a reason..)

Scared by the forecasts I grabbed lots of clothing, take my time for BF, load 2 bikes, I supposed there was a chance it could have been more a Roubaix like race, so I took the road bike too (useless). All this add waste of precious time that I supposed I had in surplus. Leave home and in 5 minutes I realize that the nav says over 3 hours to get there (estimated for some crazy reason it was 2.5HR) silly me I didn't checked the effective distance from the South Loop to the race start.

after two minutes Kevin sends a text "remember we are 1 hour ahead"....

Shut! all my plans to prepare myself appropriately once there, get trashed by my unorganized and inexistent trip preparation.

Arrive almost just in time to start, thanks to Kevin for registering me otherwise I could have missed it.

Start, sand and medium large stones on the climbing start, I was cold and worried for the first race, took me 5 miles to warm up (besides my usual inability to climb) the bike (Alu Bianchi CX) feels superheavy so I loose trust in myself and focus so I got passed by everyone...

The course was revolving around a wonderful area, incredibly cold for SPRING but the sun was so brilliant that made you feel around the 40s and the large number of little lakes reflecting across the trees made the course spectacular, moreover the absence of wind (in 90 % of the course) made the 27 degrees not an issue at all (-2 Celsius!!!! in SPRING what the heck, you guys should call it Hybernspring the uniquely MIDWESTERN conserving season) anyhow the polar numbers were not felt at all, at a certain point I had to take my gloves off.

so after the "warm up" disastrous start I tried to get back on track and did almost all climbs on the big ring standing up, there were very many medium short climbs just a few somehow steep, picking speed and not being with lots of peopler I missed a turn and extended the course (as if I needed a couple of more damn climbs) once I realize I got lost I turned back north to try to catch the course, once found it I kept pushing to the end (another 12/14 miles) the satisfaction I had at this race is that the last part of the race I was gaining much more speed up on the hills, good feeling to recognize some progress even if things start in a bad way.

I finished in 35th place, still way far from where I would like to be, but I passed a good number of riders in the last 3 miles, Barry Roubaix is not at all a Gravel ROAD Race as they call it, some parts are, but the large amount of soft deep sand and the larger rocks make it more a unique type of race.

I loved the area and I will probably go again to race next year, on road races we do not see those wonderful scenaries,Michigan has that "natural" appeal that makes you come back.