Man it Feels Good to be Home

One thing I definitely forgot to mention in my last post was how awesome it was go home to Milwaukee for a few nights. I went over to Milwaukee for ToaD racing, and stayed with my family. It’s easy for me to forget how much I truly love them when I’m always wrapped up in racing and working. I have a somewhat busy life, but I always like slowing down for a few days and spending time with my family.

After a relaxing weekend with the family, with some fun racing mixed in, I decided to take it easy during the week. My dad has told me many times that rest is important. I completely agree, but never really made the proper effort to make it happen. I spent the week riding as little as possible, sleeping properly, and eating as best I could. I think I did a decent job. I came up with a really tasty rice thing with tomatoes, pepper and whole host of other vegetables. Add some salmon to it and I was eating like a real person for once! I also decided to pull the trigger on some new MTB wheels, something I had needed since last year began! I ended up getting DT 240s and Stan’s ZTR Arch rims laced with DT revolution spokes. I figure it’s a fast enough wheel set to race for the year, and should last me a long time as a training wheel set once I get something nicer. Having said that, they are really nice, very light, and very stiff as well; I am super happy with them so far. I spent the week building those, and completely cleaning the rest of my bike. It needed it, badly.

Not only did I spend the weekend at home, but I went home in another way. The Subaru Cup was last Saturday, and it was awesome to get back to the dirt. I felt good coming in and was really hoping for a good result. I was really bummed out that the short track filled up, but in the end I wasn’t going to get all broken up about it. Drove up later on Friday with Isaac Neff from Willy bikes, the store where I worked before Saris. He had the Willy bikes sprinter, which for those of you who don’t know is a really tall van good for hauling bikes and people to races. It was pretty sweet to have all the setup. We arrived in time to get a pre-ride in for the XC course. My first impression was that it was quite a bit harder than I remembered, but this was also because I raced cat 2 last year. There was a new section called the nitro amphitheater which had a few world cup style option routes. Although both the A options were not difficult, it really played well for atmosphere. They also removed a field section, which I think was a good decision as it didn’t really add anything to the character of the course. Overall an amazingly fun and challenging course, very difficult with lots of climbing.

I lined up to race with plenty of time, but was surprised to be way back on the starting line. I didn’t think this was a big deal as there is plenty of room on the first 2 miles to pass, at least there was last year. This year however the course went straight up the hill after the bridge and into some tight single track. There was a huge pile of people wait to get into the section and people ended up standing around. With a little bit of aggression and assertiveness I was able to make up a few spots there. What really helped me were my cyclocross skills. I hopped off my bike early and ran past people in the single track. I made it past the first option and rode the drop. I had to again dismount before the second option and ended up leaping off the Bontrager Bolder, seriously a 5 foot drop or more. With a awesome start not only was a in good position, but really had the racer mindset. I feel I have been lacking that competitive aggression lately, so it was good to get that back.

Dammit, Gary got a picture of me falling

After the first lap I kept the pressure on hard and was consistently passing people one by on. I feel like almost everyone I passed I was able to handle, that is until I got near the top twenty. One the last lap I was riding somewhere around 20^th or I thought maybe farther up. I was trading spots back and forth with some guys, but was able to get gaps in the single track and when passing some of the elite women. At the end of the lap I was gassed, but ended just outside to top 20 in 21^st.

I was disappointed to be outside the top 20, which I know I’m capable of, but I was happy to feel like I was able to push it. My legs didn’t feel amazing, but Just having that aggression back makes me hopeful that I can continue to ride right around the top 20, and even high when my legs are feeling good. It was also amazing to be riding with some really fast Cat 1 MTBs from around the country, some of which I’ll be racing in the MWCCC season and at nationals. Overall, another amazing weekend racing WORS filled with excitement, and some of the coolest people in the world. Watching the pros race wasn’t bad either!