Another day of racing. This time it was a short jaunt from the parents to a new and never ridden trail just north of River Falls.
Andrea, Jordan, and myself found some time on Saturday to pre-ride the course because it was new to us. The three of us started out together, but immediately the trail separated with the citizen course going up a rocky hill, while the sport/comp/expert entered the single track to the left. We would all traverse the rocky uphill on the start on Sunday, but we were planning on just riding one lap so we opted for the single track. At the top of the single-track climb there was a short expert spur that ran you through a decent rock garden. I obviously didn't find the correct line and even though I had the big 29er rolling, I stopped dead on a large rock in the middle of the trail. I smacked my knee and jarred the seeds a little but was able to remount and continue riding even getting ahead of Andrea as I rounded the corner. I let her lead again through the next section of single track and it took a little while to get comfortable riding the single track. The first section was a little tight through the trees and it had a few fairly narrow bridge sections that could cause problems if you were not paying attention. The legs were still a little dead from last weekends Salsa 2-4 and I had only ridden once since the race. Andrea, was gone the entire week in Kansas City, and had not been on the bike since her 11th lap at Afton. The single-track opened up to flow really nicely and there were some fast flowing descents and minimal climbing.
After the lap I decided to change my front chain ring from a 32 tooth to a 34 tooth (17t in back). I went out for a second lap to determine if I could push the bigger gear. I rode a lap with Ray and Scott and the gearing felt a little tall, but was doable on the climbs. It was really nice on the flat field sections where I was able to hold 23+ mph without "spinning out". Near the end of the course there is a long fast downhill section that leads into a shallow climb. I pushed as hard as I could and hammered up the climb to simulate race conditions. Man do I low the single 29er. I can descend with much more confidence and it always seems to have more tracking through the turns. After the pre-ride we preregistered the entire family and went back to the parents.
RACE DAY
Jordan's Race
The race day started at 9:30 AM with Devon and Taylor in the Citizen Youth race. After all the call ups they were both at the back of the pack. At the start Taylor got a good jump on Devon and was leading going into the first climb. That is the last we would see of them until they would come through the finish line. In the meantime Jordan was warming up for her race. When I asked how she was feeling she said good, but a little nervous. There is more competition in the WORS series because the courses are easier and it draws larger groups. At the start, the women were staged in the last of six waves. That meant that Jordan would have a lot of traffic to deal with in the single track. At the start Jordan looked over towards Lizzy Sobotta and Emily Shull (the series points leaders) and could see they were talking about her. They were probably saying "great that girl from Minnesota is back" Earlier in the year at the Firecracker race Jordan finished over 8 minutes ahead of them and just missed the overall win for the ladies. After all the other waves were off, it was the ladies turn. At the word GOOOO! Jordan jumped out in front and had a 4-5 bike length lead before the first turn. She quickly shifted down for the climb and as usual was hammering out the saddle up the rocky double track. She came through to start her second lap comfortably is second position and riding strong. I was able to give her a new water bottle and shoved a gel pack in her back jersey pocket in case she needed it. She came through the finish in second place 1:32 back from the leader (32 years old). Third place was Emily Shull, who had a very good race and was only 1:12 behind. Overall good race and all smiles. Not bad considering the only time she is on the bike is during the pre-rides and race day.
Andreas Race
Matt's Race
NOTE TO SELF: Work on the starts. I am getting killed on the starts and I then get hung up in the single track and never have a chance to catch up. I think it is more mentally draining to ride at the back of the pack than it is physically demanding to ride in the middle of the pack.
I lined up at the back of the pack at the start because I didn't want to hold anyone up on the rocky climb with the single speed. I got a decent jump on the line and was able to hold my position up the first part of the climb with probably 8-10 riders behind me. As we continued towards the top I started to fade and after the turn into the field I turned around and found that I was in last place, familiar but frustrating. I pushed hard and was able to get by one or two riders before the first set of single track. At the entrance to the single track there was a line of riders stopped and I was surprised at how slow the group was going through the first section. It took nearly 5 minutes for the group to string out and allow some decent speed. At this point I was just trying to conserve some energy and wait for the passing sections. At the first passing section I passed 2 more riders and held my position nicely through the single track. On the second passing section I caught a couple more riders including Eric Guse. Jenna passed me part way through the first lap and I was able to hang with her for a little while before she faded into the distance. I was, however, able to put a good gap on the trailing riders and rode strong for the remainder of lap one. Starting the second lap I could tell that the first climb would be a little bit of an effort and I was finding out that the gearing was a little too tall for a 5 lap race. I pushed through the first climb keeping a good pace. The middle of the race was me riding alone and trying to keep the enthusiasm and pace up. Eric caught back up to me on the third lap and we rode strong together through the single track. Through the start/finish line he passed me to lead out the climb starting lap 4. My legs were starting to fade and the tall gearing made it difficult to maintain momentum up the climb. By the time I entered the first field Eric was gone and I was unable to bridge back up. I used this time to take down a gel and get some water in my body. I found it extremely difficult to drink on the course, because you were either in fast single track were you needed to constantly pay attention and on the field sections it was too bumpy to drink. I lapped a few comp riders and it gave me a little motivation to push hard, but that quickly faded when I went down hard on the next section of single track. The front wheel washed on a fast section sending me to the deck. I had to pound the handlebar strait and I didn't notice until I got home that my front wheel was about 1" out of true. Thank God for disk breaks. I must have hit the bar with my left knee because as I got up to grab the bike my knee was really sore. To make matters worse, when I finally got back on and started to crank, both my legs cramped up at the same time. Fortunately, the next section was slightly downhill, so I soft peddled for a minute to loosen them up. Shortly later on the next climb my left calf cramped up and I was forced to walk the rest of the climb.
For the remainder of of the race I battled the legs and made sure that I didn't push hard on any of the climbs. In fact, I had to walk most of the climb at the start of lap 5. I was able to push fairly hard on the flat sections, but had to be careful on the climbs. I was able to pass one more riders near the middle of lap 5 and held strong to the finish. Eric Guse busted his chain 500 m before the finish line and I was able to pass him as he was running with his bike.
I felt fairly good, but not where I want to be. There is always next year.
Race Day!
I felt like quiting the entire race, but I held on. My warm-up went great I started out feeling bad but the legs warmed up nicely and I felt ready to go. I rested for a few minutes between the race and my warm up and then I was ready. They had a mass start which at first I really didn't think I would like, but then as the race started I realized it was going to be much easier this way. There were so many people I didn't need to pass and I could just get into position right from the start. Part way up the intial climb Matt told me there was only one lady in front of me, well I knew there was one lady right in front of me, so I passed her and just kept passing as many people as I could. I got towards the top of the hill and spotted another lady, Brandi Moore, so I worked hard and passed her too. We all reached the top of the hill and had to wait to get into the single track. We all filed in and the first 20 minutes of the race were quite frustrating because we were all riding so close in a line. We slowly passed those who made mistakes or couldn't ride smooth. Then we slowly spread out and we were all able to ride our own race. I had a 3 lap race. After lap 1 Brandy was right on my back wheel going up the hill and then I kicked it a little and put some space between us, she stayed fairly close to me until we hit the road half way into the 2nd lap, at that point I put it in a high gear and took off. I didn't see her again. I didn't feel good at all most of the race, it was really hot and I was just not feeling right. I thought I might DNF and then I figured before I did that I could just slow down, but I was never able to bring myself to do it. Finally after the 1st climb of the 3rd lap I started feeling better and I knew I was in the home stretch, I just needed to ride smooth and avoid bike failure and crashing. I held on for the overall women's win! I finished 1st out of 6 for the ladies and 39 out of 82 overall for the Sport riders.
