After all the fun in Rhinelander and rippin the snake, I had
an even busier weekend coming.
I was lucky enough to get an invite from the Mt. Borah Epic,
a tribute to the amazing trails in the Chequamegon National Forest. Unlike the famous
Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival, this race is something like 95% on single track.
This had me excited. I drove up with Team Wisconsin Director, Dave Eckel and
stayed with Wade Loberger and Melissa Putzer in a nice little cabin they have
right near the start and finish. The race starts on Randysack road, a road that
if you’ve ever raced the short and fat, you’re familiar with. But unlike the
short and fat, the Epic takes a turn into the single track pretty quickly and
doesn’t come up for air until the half way mark. And even then, it dives back
in until the finish.
I went up knowing that I was going up there to win. My
competition would be a few strong guys. I knew Eric Thompson would be there and
I later found out Rotem Ishay would be there as well. SO I was excited to have
some serious competition and ride the awesome trails up there. As far as the
race, it started out pretty quick, there were a lot of people who were eager to
push the pace so the top guys had to fight a little to stay up at the front. But
there were a few climbs before we hit the single track and we pushed the pace
to string it out as we went into the single track. We didn’t have very many
opportunities to pass, so we set the pace at high tempo and rode together for
about 2 hours. There were a few attacks, but with all the single track no one
ever got away. We came into the last few miles and Rotem was able to get away
and the rest of us just couldn’t follow. I made a point of leading coming into
the last section of single track got a small gap on the rest of the guys and
gave it everything I had to the finish. One rider was able to come around me,
Brenden Moore. He had been riding on the back of the group all day and I
dismissed him as lucky to be there, but he had it left at the end.
The bad news came after the finish, when I learned that Dave
had broken his hand. We skipped the podium to get him home and the get some
care at MOSH. It was too bad to have that happen, but I was glad to be there to
help him when he needed someone. The silver lining for me was also that I was
able to do the WORS Race the next day in Cambridge. The WORS Race a Cam-Rock is
what I would consider my home race. The big story for the day was the heat. I
was a little bit dehydrated from racing the day before so I was doing
everything I could, but the legs were a little bit tired. I gave it everything
on the start trying to make something happen, and trying to see where the legs
were. I was surprised to have a gap at the top, but paid for it as the race
went on. After Nate attacked at the end of the first lap, I was on the limit
until the finish. I finally fell off when Cory Attacked in the third lap. I was
happy to show up with some tired legs and still pull off a top 5. I was flat
out exhausted after that race. I laid down and drank water until I couldn’t.
After a long weekend I was pretty tired so I kept the rest
going. Then I had a weekend off of racing, but I still showed up for the Trek
100. I’ve always loved this charity ride, and it’s for a great cause. But what
makes it really special is the atmosphere that Trek works so hard to bring
every year. It’s the type of ride where you can go as hard as you want, and
still hang out when it’s all said and done. Team Wisconsin had some amazing
group work and organization. We had something like 20-30 riders all pace lining
it. We did the whole 100 miles, with stops, in only 4 hours and 15 minutes. At
that pace I still only average 220w. Pretty amazing. Then the other big news
was right after that I went out and bought my first car. It’s a pretty cool
2005 silver Ford Focus hatchback, so it’s perfect for bike racing.
After that weekend I was starting to feel back, the
motivation was high once again so I started training to build up for nationals.
Mid-week I picked up a little cold. I was a little bit nervous about the
weekend because I really wanted to have a good ride in Wausau. I went into the
race with the series overall lead and I wanted to everything I could to hold
onto that lead, because I would be missing Eau Claire. I had a runny noise on
the start line, but I was mentally focused. The course had a lot of open double
track sections separated by short very technical single track. This made the
race very on and off. We would attack the single track very hard and then sit
up on the open sections if we didn’t have a gap. It let me use my road tactics
a little more and save the little bit I had to give. I gave it one pretty hard
dig half way through in the longest section of single track and got a small
gap, but Nathan was able to keep on the wheel and eventually Eric and Tristan
joined back as well and at that point I sat up. Eventually Nate got away on the
third lap and after playing some games, a few crashes, I was able to get away.
I think I was able to finish well because of my technical handling, but also
due to the mistakes of others. So I consider myself lucky.
Next up, it’s a trip for 11 days out to Montana and
Colorado. I’m starting feel healthy again, legs are coming around again, and
the motivation is high. Really looking forward to representing Team Wiscsonsin
and the Midwest out in the mountain. And of course, coming back home to WORS
for the WORS Cup!
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