Mountain biking is what I've been up to. And a lot more than usual. Past years I've been up to my elbows in track practice and meets, a completely hectic work schedule, and triathlons this time of year. O' Eleven has brought me a different set of circumstances. With no track to worry about, and as a result a slightly less crazy work schedule. An even more successful trip to North Carolina, and many quality base miles accumulating. A cold and fairly crappy bit of weather throughout most of spring making me prefer the shelter of the woods over nature's relentless abuse of riding the road. And a dead set desire to be riding at top level by the end of the season as I upgrade categories for the cyclocross season. When my first two WORS races of the season returned my best results ever, perhaps I can say I wasn't 'surprised' necessarily, but I certainly can't deny the huge amount of satisfaction, and fulfillment having put in the work, and actually seeing terrific results.
WORS IOLA- Pre-riding the day before, I knew I liked the course. Only one or two painful climbs, and otherwise lots of quick ups and downs, and extremely fast, super flowy singletrack. Definitely a suit that coursed me ;) After a good start, I really wanted to make sure I didn't attack too hard the first lap and not have enough left for the rest of the race. But I felt good, and I was up near the front, so I went with it. And as luck would have it, I felt better as the race progressed. It wasn't just a matter of survival for a change, I really felt like I was able to dictate my efforts, and control my pace. And bike handling? I felt like a pro out there! Fully committing to every turn, sticking a knee out and leaning the bike way over. I could definitely feel my preparations working for me. End result, crossing the line still feeling oddly fresh... On the podium with my best finish, 4th in my agegroup of 24, and 13th overall out of around 200 in the sport category.
WORS WAUSAU- With a solid few weeks of riding leading up to this race, feeling pretty good on the bike, and on a course now that I had ridden last year, and thought I had done fairly well with, I was actually very confident coming into the 'Big Ring Classic.' You hate to say before a race "I'm gonna win" or anything along those lines, because that's pretty bad karma and such a slim chance, but I knew how I was feeling, and I knew I was gonna do something special. Into the race, I had a great start, right up into the top 7 or so riders. After a few riders overcooking the first couple turns through the sand, I found myself jockeying in the top 3. Knowing I was in a pretty good position at this point, I didn't want to unnecessarily burn myself out with an unwarranted attack, but as we came to a hill, the leaders slowed, and there I was, first place. This is a place I've literally never been before. I maintain about the pace we'd been going, but what an unnatural feeling. I equate it back to high school football actually. Playing quarterback, the ball is snapped, and all at once, you've got about 11 guys chasing you. Except now I had more than 200 chasing me... My lead didn't last for much more than about a third of a lap, but only 3 guys were able to make it by. I raced HARD. This was a race I was not going to leave anything out there. I was racing angry. The last guy by me I chased relentlessly to the very end. Lap traffic being the only reason he gapped me at the end. After the race I had the tell-tail, throbbing lower back, and was pretty much hobbling around like an old man for a while, but GOD it felt good. What a race. 2nd place out of 25 in my agegroup! And 5th place out of 225 overall!!
Where do I go from here?!
Consistency, grasshopper. Consistency.
Oh yeah, then afterwards...
The Sunday prior, Dan and myself came to find that the local eating establishment, Bublitz's had in fact just recently created an eating challenge. Just a cheeseburger and fries in a half hour. Well actually, 4 half pound patties, and a pound of cheese, surrounded by no less than a pound of fries... Smartly, we decided the best time to attempt such a feat would be after the WORS race. We'll be majorly calorie deprived, and you always feel like you can eat a horse after a race. I felt like a rock star with everyone taking pictures and directing attention to my gluttony, haha. No real strategy involved, just eat fast, trick your belly, eat fries when the burger starts to get filling. Yea I started getting a mean case of the beef sweats, and yea I used every last minute of that half hour, but by golly, I was the 2nd ever person to do it, and won me a free t-shirt, hahaha(pictures to follow...)
What a day
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