Back to Reality

After the success at Jingle CX, I was optimistic about my fitness and skill as well as the rest of the year. As you likely know, it hasn’t been the best year but things are getting back to normal and I’m starting to get back into the rhythm. But back to normal means back to the normal ups and downs.

After Jingle CX I had an easy week, with just one set of intervals and then rest until the weekend. I went home and relaxed with the Family. I then decided to race down in Chicago on Saturday. The competition wasn’t very deep, but the front of the field was still strong. Tall Mike and Paul Mumford, two crazy mo fos kept the racing fun and challenging. But compared to WI racing, I felt much more in control. But to compliment that, everyone was riding against me. It was tough, but I had to keep myself in second place or better to keep a gap from opening up on the tight and technical, but slow course. It was hard to open up a gap. The corners were so close together that one couldn’t really get away and stay away, so we stayed together the whole race and it came down to the last lap. I made a mistake and fell back to third and got gapped, just like I was worried about. I pulled around for second, but couldn’t make the final pass for the win.

More training the following week in preparation for a race I had my eye on. Not one that many people pay attention to, but tough all the same. The collegiate regional race determines who gets the call up to the front row at nationals and that would be a huge help in winning that race. So I was focused on it. I was treating it like a bigger race than it was not only because it mattered to me, but for practice. Practicing the routine and doing everything I could to be as fast as possible. I even avoided the party we went to Friday night… Gasp! But I didn’t get the best sleep that night, but I don’t think that hurt me too much.

The morning was just like most others before a race. A big breakfast to keep me fueled for the day and we headed off to the race. After some booty shaking and open shirt conversations, I kitted up and got a few laps in. The course was on the side of a hill. It had tons of off camber corners and lots of climbing. But it was technical which would suit me pretty well on a normal day, but not as much on this day because I was racing against two other good mountain bikers. The race started and filed in in the top 3 around the first 3 corners and quickly realized that both Josh and Drew (the two big competitors) were back a ways in the field. So I turned on the gas and opened up the gap to try and force them to chase hard. They chased, but let it happen slowly and pulled me back after 3 laps. From there it was all about keeping them behind me. I would let one get in front once in a while, but mostly tried to lead them as I wanted to control the race. We rode together for 2 more laps when drew came around me. Instead of making him work for it and then passing him back, I let it stick. A few corners later, he crashed and took me down with him, as Josh rode away. I got up as quickly as I could but Josh had 20 seconds. I pushed it hard and kept him from pulling away, but after 4 laps I was cooked and sitting with a big gap back to third. I sat up a little bit with 3 to go and resigned myself to second. For my pride I pushed it hard on the last 2 laps and ended up pulling a few seconds back, but nothing big. I really wished I could have had a full race and not been chasing. It would have been a throw down. But in the end Josh was the faster guy, so congratulations to him.

After the race we said goodbye to friends and headed home early so we could make the race back in Madison, Booty CX. Last year the race was known for its crazy hard course, straight up and down a massive hill. Beyond the tough course, the top Wisconsin riders were there, Matt Shriver, Isaac Neff, Mark Lalonde and other. For some reason I had a call up, possibly for being a Cat 1, but I lined up on the left side and had a good start. I was second after the first few corners with the leader getting at gap but nothing serious. I’m still not sure what or why I rode the way I did, but it was pretty bad. I was all over the place. Matt attacked on lap 2 but I was able to hold his wheel but went from 1^st back to 4^th in the group. Not a big deal.  But there was this one corner, I had trouble with it all race. It was slick and slow, right after a fast section. I must have had pressure too high or something. But on lap 2 sitting 4^th, I hit the deck. From there, it was more and more of the same. I was a bull in a china shop. But with 3 laps to go, I got my thing together and started a comeback. I was able to bring it back and get a 5^th place in the race. Not my best race, but I came out of it with a little fire in my belly and another race under my belt.

Next time the story will continue. At some point I’ll catch up to the present. But among other things there will be a little explanation of the last few weeks, and missing the state and regional champs.