In the wake of something Great

After the awesome result at Alterra, I was really eager to show everyone that I was fast enough to hang with some of the top riders in WORS by bringing another good result at race #7, Cam Rock. This was a good race to do so as I know the course pretty well being only 20 minutes from it. Problem was that a lot of people know that course, so there wasn’t much advantage. The week leading up to it,
I was really dead. The 24 hour race really took it all out of me. In hind sight, I definitely peaked at Alterra, all be it not planned. I felt ok at Wausau 24, but was really hoping to build up a little for this next race. After resting Monday, I rode Tuesday and felt like crap. Took Wednesday off and rode a little on Thursday and Friday and felt good on Friday. But I really didn’t ride hard all week opting to let myself rest up. I figure it better to be well rested than fatigued for a race.

Pre-rode on Saturday, and the course was extremely dry. The dust had covered the trail making it almost ride like mud. It was difficult for me to stay upright. I was riding the Struggle-bus hard core. I decided to run a really low pressure, like really low. I picked on 18 in the front and 22 in the rear which is really low for those 2.2 conti race kings, which really when measured are 2.1.

After getting rain the night before the race, which it needed really badly, I opted to run 20 and 24 psi. My front tire was hooked up on rails for the race. The back was a little low though. I was worried I would roll it and I banged the rim a few times, Thank god for tubeless. My first lap was ok, I made it into the single track in the top 10 or so, which was what I wanted to do. I was far up enough that I didn’t get caught in any bunch ups which really helped. Rode a strong first lap and felt ok, not as good as Alterra, but hanging in there.

I ended up raining on lap two, and the track got greasy. There were some corners that were perfect, just so fast. But some on the other hand were slick; worst part was it was hard to tell which ones were which. I crashed a few times in the last part of single track. First time I came up to a corner and my front just kept going. After getting out of a ditch, I had been passed by a few guys. I crashed again after locking the front again and going into a stump. I wasn’t fun, but better than going over the bars a few times like in my pre-ride. Laps 3 and 4 were super-fast, at least the course was. I was hurting really bad.  People were cheering like I was going to catch the guys up front, but I was struggling to stay where I was. I was able to ride it out, and came in 15^th.

I’m pretty happy with that finish. I would love to slot into the top 10, but in perspective, I can be proud of my finish. I think I proved to everyone that I am one of the fast guys. I think I showed that Alterra was no fluke. Good news, my confidence is high right now, bad news; I’m definitely on the radar of a lot of people. That’s going to make top finishes harder until I get a call up. I do need to give a huge thanks to everyone cheering for me. Tim, Chad, Matt, Cassey, and huge thanks to Brian’s parents for giving my handups. It really helps and I go faster every time I hear my name.

Looking ahead, next weekend I have off. I am hoping to use these next two weeks to get some good training in. I’ll be looking to have another good race at WORS #8, boarder battle. Should be a tough race with guys from Minnesota racing, and not knowing the course. My eye is really shifting towards collegiate MTBs right now. I’m hoping to do really well and get some solid training in before that starts. I need to elevate my fitness a little high if I want to dominate. After that I have WORS #9 and then other week two weeks of solid training before collegiate kicks off at Lindsey Wilson. I’m excited to see some Friends from there and race with them on the dirt. School starts somewhere in there which might affect things, but I need to keep my focus, while still doing well in school. I’ll have pictures from Cam Rock soon as I can. Thanks for reading.