Back to School

It’s been 2 whole years of working at Saris. After a semester off to work I’m returning to school, and I’m going all in. It’s obviously time for me to graduate, this being my 5th year. To make sure things go smoothly, I quit Saris to focus on school. Hopefully this will keep things a little less hectic. I’ve tried it before, and the work can be overwhelming. But there is a flip side. Money will be tight. But I know I can do it because I have an awesome family and the best support network of friends and sponsors to keep my head above water.

But beyond the trade-offs, it’s strange to be back in school. Waking up when class starts, and not at 6:30 every day is the big one right now. There has been so much sleeping going on! It’s strange to be sitting behind a desk getting talked at instead of thinking about a problem, or just cranking out work. It’s refreshing, but strange. A feeling which I welcome however is the feeling of confidence in classes. I feel much more in control, and much more on top of things than before. I owe this to my work experience for sure, so thanks Saris for that opportunity.

The free time has been abundant in the last few days, and hopefully it stays this way. And it will if I keep on top of things. And I need to because this extra time leads to better and more focused riding, and a lot less stress than before. I’m really looking forward to that.

But I think the best part of school starting was my return to collegiate cycling. The Ripon Red Hawks once again held a slamming race. Well organized with the man power to have a well set up and maintained course. Beyond that it takes place at Nordic Mountain, site of the Wisconsin Pro XCT, easily the best collegiate course in the MWCCC.
































The weekend started off with watching the DH guys “hucking their meat” on the downhill run. Absolutely amazing what those guys do. There are a lot of things in this world that are difficult, but riding a bike on that type of terrain is such high risk. In XC, you can ease into difficult obstacles, but a huge gap or drop, the only way to figure it out is to risk the fall. So, mad respect to the new gravity crew at the UW. The Short track followed DH. I felt ok at the start and had a good comfortable start. But as the race progressed I only got stronger and stronger. I was putting in little attacks to make the group smaller and smaller until it was only myself and Casey from Ripon. This kid will be a massive talent in the next few years, and if all goes well, on the national circuit. The kid has skills. But all that talent was no match for my strength and experience that day. With a cool head I waited and watched for the right moment to attack and ended up pulling a 15 second gap for the win. Huge shouts go to the massive UW cheering section on the back side of the course. I couldn't air the jump so well, but it didn’t soften their cheering.

Sunday featured the XC race. About 20 miles of no rest because it’s basically all uphill then difficult downhill. It’s a tough challenge but totally worth it because you can’t have more fun. At the start I felt good and noticed a gap form quickly behind me. Combine that with all the big threats to my win starting poorly, I went for it up the steep start climb. After pulling out a gap of 10 seconds to second place I dropped my chain and had to stop and fix it, putting me back to 3rd with some ground to make up. I quickly pulled in 2nd place and set my sights on none other than Casey charging in the lead. I think we both sensed that these early moments were going to decide the race, because he was gassing it, and so was I. After the first lap he was still in sight, so the pressure stayed on. After lap 2, the gap began to grow. On laps 3 and 4 it was much the same save a small section where he must have rested because pulled 10 seconds back in the middle of lap 4. But on lap 5, I was cooked. And with about a minute to make up and over a minute back to 3rd, I eased off. I knew that the race wasn’t over, but the only thing that could get me the win was a big mistake by Casey. I rolled in about minute back of him, happy with my second place performance. Losing to that kid is an honor, especially on that course. I bet he could teach the pros a thing or 2 about the lines out there.

With Monday off and Tuesday of no classes, it’s been pretty relaxed. Training is starting to pick back up again as the mono is slowly regressing and I feel more normal every day. I’m not back to normal yet, but getting there. I’m looking forward to putting in some hard training in the next few weeks to prepare to USGP and the rest of the CX season. And Chequamegon in 2 weeks! Can’t wait.

Thanks to Gary over XTR Photo for the great shots, go say hi at the next WORS race over at the XTR Photo Trailer. Also huge thanks to Gordy at Speed Cycling Madison for helping me get through the last few weeks without over doing it, and of course to Trek and Shimano for putting me on the best equipment around.