WORS #5 Chippewa Valley Firecracker

The update is a little late in coming, but here it is. Lets just say that WORS does a very good job of running a top notch event. On site camping, food, entertainment, and one of the nicest courses I have ridden.

We found a nice spot Friday afternoon with the Hendrick's and quickly set up camp (three vans, 13 bikes, two EZ ups and four tents).

Friday afternoon I took Devon, Taylor and Wyatt out for a preride on the citizen youth course. The course was a little too much for Wyatt, but he still did remarkably well. Devon and Taylor handled most of the sections with ease and were typically way ahead. After Wyatt and I got back I went out for a lap to get a feel for the speed and lines on the course.

Later that night Scott, Kevin, Ray and myself strapped on the lights for a little night ride action. The course is much different at night and everything seems to "close in".

Taylor and Devon's Race

Taylor and Devon did great in the Citizen Youth race. They both came back with smiles on their faces and said they had a great time. Taylor finished 3rd out of 5 and Devon finished 9th out of 12. It is so fun to see them out there making their way through the trails with ease.

Jordan's Race

Jordan was absolutely amazing out there, she really showed up those Wisconsin girls. She scooted herself as close to the front as she could at the line (considering most of the WI ladies were called up to the line). Then they were off. Shortly into the first lap she made her way to the front of all the ladies and stayed there ... until part way into the 2nd lap the 2nd place lady was telling Jordan what a good job she was doing and Jordan fell off a bridge. She was so mad, the 2nd place lady passed her and Jordan ended up finishing 2nd overall, 31 seconds back from the leader. The next closest girl in her age bracket finished 8.32 minutes later. Great Job Jordan!

Andrea's Race from her Point

It was another great racing day! We have been so lucky with weather this year for the races!

I started with a warm-up about 45 minutes before my race was going to start. I warmed-up on the road for about 22 minutes. My warm-up started with an endurance heart rate for about 10 minutes and then I varied my heart rate between a 4-5a level for the remaindered of my warm-up, just as I was about to lower my heart rate and start heading back to the camp site it started to down pore. I hurried back to the campsite and helped make sure everything was safe from getting wet. I made sure I was ready for my race I told Matt which water bottles I wanted when and I headed for the line.

We sat at the line for quite awhile. WORS puts on a good show and they have a lot of race categories with callups for each category so it takes awhile to get to the ladies who ride out last. Finally when it was our turn I didn't have the best starting position because of all of the callups, but I knew the lead out section was long enough. I started out towards the back of the pack and got myself around the two sketchy corners before the fence. Then I shifted to a high gear and started passing people. We had one more left corner to take and then there was a long straight section before a right turn down a short hill. So after the left turn I shifted into my highest gear and just went, I ended up passing everyone and just kept going. I went down the hill and around another corner I glanced back and there was no one close to me so I just kept going. I knew there was a steep rocky downhill that led into a rocky left turn section coming up and I knew I could make it if no one else was around (the last 2 times I've raced this course this section gets all jammed up with riders walking these sections). So I got to that section with no one around and I cleared it cleanly and just kept riding. After my 1st lap Matt tells me I had a 1 minute gap on the next closest rider. Part way into my 2nd lap I caught up to a guy who was riding slower than me, but I didn't have time to pass him before some downhill switchbacks. So I just stayed behind him and gave him a little distance just in case he biffed it. He made the switchbacks fine and then he made a steep rocky section just fine, but then that led to a bridge. I don't know what he was doing but he got way off to the left edge of the bridge and then fell off, but his bike stayed on the bridge and with no way to get around him I tried to stop, but I was too close to the right edge and I fell off the bridge. I hopped back on my bike as quick as I could and passed the guy and tried to just go again. However, on a short uphill I didn't quite make I was passed by the next closest women (Kelly Skillicorn - if you remember from a previous post she was this years winner of the Birkebeiner.) I stayed with her and then on a straight section I passed her again, although that led to a short uphill that she managed better than I and she passed me back. The rest of the second lap I stayed right with her until almost the end. When yet again a short uphill and some "friendly" advice from some spectators distracted me and I shifted wrong and lost my chain. It was too close to the end to catch back up I did the best I could and I finished 39 seconds back. It was another excellent race and it was really fun running that long at the front, although somewhat hard to gage on how fast/hard I should push it. I'm getting stronger and my training is back on track, finally after the move and all the projects... Next race is MNSCS #5 Red Wing.

Matt's Race

Earlier in the week I had made the decision to race in the SS Comp class to give myself a chance to compete closer to the front of the pack. Since this race is not affiliated with the MNSCS series it wouldn't matter in the standings, so why not.

It was a different feeling pulling up to the start being behind the expert class and at the back of the comp class. The sent off the 39+ and SS as the last wave. After all the other waves were off it was our turn to go and I pinned it as fast as I could down the long lead out section. During the lead out I was completely spun out and feel toward the back of the pack, I think all the gearies were gone by that point. Once into the single track I held a very good pace. The bike handled the flowing single track with ease and I was really comfortable on the trail. I was catching up to many of the riders that blew by me on the start.

I witnessed one of the craziest crashes part way through lap one. I was following in a small group of 4 riders just after crossing the bridge for the second time. All of a sudden the rider in front of me went strait down, head first, into the ground. I had just enough room to pass by on the left and nobody was caught in the crash. The rider who crashed yelled out, "what happened", and the person behind him casually said, "your fork broke". Andrea later saw him carrying his bike out of the woods, his carbon fork snapped just above the dropouts on both sides. I hope everyone is OK.

Near the end of lap one I was caught by one of the single speeders who obviously had a bad start. He dogged me for a while and he offered to lead. I allowed him to pass and we worked together to keep up a really good pace. We rode that way on lap 2 until going through the start/finish line to begin lap 3. For some reason It was becoming difficult to pedal the crank and it was starting to seize up. I thought that it might just be some dirt in the bottom bracket so I tried to continue peddling to work it free. By the entrance to the single track it would not turn over. I got off the bike and it took me a minute to determine that the SS lock ring had backed off and was now cross threaded causing it to rub on the inside of the frame. I quickly pulled the wheel off but without tools I could not remove the lock ring. Thinking my day was done, I carried the bike back to camp. Never wanting to DNF, however, I grabbed a pliers and was able to get the lock ring off and re threaded correctly. At this point the goal was to go all out and see how much time I could make up by the end of the race.

On lap three I pushed really hard and managed to finish 17th out of 23. I figured I lost about 10 minutes due to the mechanical and that would have put me in about 5th place. A good race overall despite the mechanical and the legs felt good.

Next race Red Wing