SCOLETRAIN

My 14th Chequamegon Fat Tire 40

As another Fat Tire weekend passes I'll try to quickly summarize my race if that's at all possible. Last week I got an amazing opportunity to race on the new 2009 Specialized S-Works Epic just two days before the race. I felt like it was Christmas morning when I was a kid after getting a call to ride one of the most talked about bikes for 2009. Friday I picked the bike up in Hayward about mid-afternoon on our way to Cable to get some ride time in on it before packet pick-up and the pasta feed at Telemark Lodge where we stayed. The first thing I noticed was how light and quick the bike felt. My pre-ride consisted of the last 8 miles going out n' back on the course on the lightest full suspension bike that I've ever ridden for an hour plus of spinning and making a few fit adjustments. I came to a quick conclusion

that the 2009 S-Works Epic is a rocket ship with the new frame design, suspension improvements and with the parts kit it was built up with. With all the excitement of being able to race this bike, came the reality about 10 miles into the race that the bike was a lot better than I was on this race day. Throughout the race I had to remind myself a few times why I ride and race (because it's fun) as I was forced into damage control mode for the last 30 miles with an old body that didn't like what I was trying to make it do. In the end I really thought that a top 100 finish was out of reach, but to my surprise I came close to equaling last years time with a 2:21:51 and placed a respectable 52nd in a large field. It's shocking what you can put your body through when it's not running on all its cylinders by staying positive. A big thanks to Andy from Specialized for all his help this weekend along with my wife for the bottle hand up and support. Pedal on...

	Overall Place	Division Place	Age Group Place	Name	City, State	Finish Time
	52	49	8	Cole, Scott	Stevens Point, WI	02:21:51.8