MWFTS - Spanish Lake

The next race in the Midwest Fat Tire series is race #9 at Spanish Lake on Sunday, August 9. I'm not sure what to think of this one. The course below (linked from official site) has a length of 4.14 miles; that's a short course.

I've never been there but I plan to pre-ride the course the day before the race. I haven't found very many reviews of the trails online but here are a couple quotes:

Spanish Lake offers an extreme variety of riding trails. From extremely tight single track to the wide-open maintenance roads, Spanish Lake has it all. It offers something for everyone and all skill levels. It is also a single speeders dream, with not many challenging climbs. I would review it as the Castlewood, minus the Cardiac type hills, of North St. Louis County. --from mtbr.com

This park offers a little of Castlewood & Cliff Caves all in one. You'll find rolling hills between the mature trees, some downhills and climbs to boot. A lot of guys will swear it's not too difficult but it'll challenge almost anyone but the best. --from stlbiking.com

Without knowing the hill situation I'm going to guess the laps will take 20 minutes tops; that would make for a 5 lap race. I think I'm going to ditch the camelbak for this one and just use bottles. It's always such a relief when I drop it off so it makes me wonder why I wear it in the first place.

I'm looking forward to Sunday, the weather should be good and on the hills during last nights ride at Sac River I felt like I found another gear. Hopefully it sticks around.