WORS Cup and Nationals

After all the travel out to Montana and Colorado, I was really looking forward to spending a weekend at home to race in the biggest WORS race of the year, the WORS Cup. This year the race moved from Mt. Morris down closer to home at Cascade Mountain. The course at Cascade has taken shape over the last couple years and I was pumped to race on it this year. I spent the week preparing but was never able to get out on the course. So when I showed up on Friday night early enough to get two laps in, then grab some food and hang out before the race. The course was much more technical than what it had been in the past and I really enjoyed the changes that had been made. What I loved the most about it was the combination of slow grinding technical uphill and then fast big hit obstacles on the way down. It will never be riding in the mountains, but it lives up to the fantastic legacy of Mt Morris.

But once I got done pre riding, my complete focus turned to the short track. I was really pumped to race in front of the home crowd and show what I could do. The call up procedure was a little bit screwy, but with a pretty wide open race course passing wasn’t a problem. By the end of the first lap I was sitting just on the tail end of the lead group. The pace wasn’t too hard, I could tell. I was riding near my limit, but everyone in the front was looking around allowing a lot of riders to hang on. I was able to follow some of the efforts, but I was just hanging on where I could. I was doing my best to keep the effort as low as possible while still staying in contact. As the laps wore on, I moved up and back in the group, but I wasn’t riding outside myself. With a few laps to go the pace got a little higher, and the battle for position was on as well. I poked my nose through on a corner and got cut off and into the fencing. I was already on the limit, but I got up as quick as I could and without even thinking and got back on it. I’m glad I did because a few other guys just gave up. With only a few laps left, I knew I could pin it full gas and make it to the line strong so that’s what I did. I made a few passes, cheered on by the WORS super fans, and made up a few spots. I grabbed a wheel on the last lap and battled for position. But with the long straight it came down to a sprint. I tried to come from behind, and the finish was almost long enough, but I just couldn’t get in front before the line. 12^th place for me. Happy with the finish, and happy with how I raced.

That night was a struggle to get to sleep. I think I went to bed as late as 1:30am. Not the best prep for the next day’s XC. Usually I like the harder effort of the Short track the day before the XC, but when it’s so late at night, not so much. I finally did get to sleep and woke a little later trying to get the sleep in. I made some food for lunch to bring with and then headed over to the course. Rain was in the forecast, but I took a chance and put on the dry XR1 Bontrager tires. While these have the lowest knob, they handle pretty well in the wet, especially if you’re willing to let them slide a little. I got out on my warm up, all pretty standard. I was feeling a little sleepy and tired, but once I got to the line and the crowd was yelling, I was amped. We started out and I had an ok start. Starting from second row I was able to chill a little bit, but we hit the first big climb and I was off the front pretty quick. Something wasn’t right.

I rode to stay within myself but after a few minutes when I felt better, I gassed it again and immediately felt like crap again. My legs felt empty and my stomach was hurting. I knew I had good legs, my numbers were good in training, and that made this all the more frustrating. As the laps went on, I continued to push but just couldn’t maintain enough power to hold wheels. I slipped back lap after lap, and the emotion was there, both the want to keep going and finish, and the pain from being powerless to do so. But the local cheers kept me inspired to push with what I had. I was pulled with one to go. So not my best weekend. I was happy with the short track, but the XC was a huge disappointment. I came to find that the issue was my pre-race meal. I ate a pasta dish that just didn’t sit right. I was burping it up all night after the race.

But I knew that the legs had been good that week so I tried to refocus and keep my head focused on the coming weekend for the US national champs in Pennsylvania. New teammate Brian Matter and I drove out Wednesday night to PA and turned it into a 2 day drive. It was really cool to drive with someone like Brian because he’s got so much experience in the sport whether its funny stories, some history lessons, or training and coaching advice. But the thing that the thing that was the most interesting was the way he looked at racing and making a living doing it. He doesn’t’ chase prestige, he chases money and exposure. He selects races where he can battle for the win and shows up to win.

We got to the house Thursday night for some food and a good night’s sleep. Friday was all about getting in some laps on course and preparing for the race. Lots of time with the feet up and getting lots of water. When race time came I was ready and feeling good. I had 4^th row start and when the gun went off I was aggressive to keep at the front but also tried to stay within myself so that I could hold the position I had. The course hits a single track climb, some ups and down and then eventually opens up a few times to allow some passing. I burned some matches there to hold position and even made a pass or two. The rest of the way up the climb was pretty much just holding spot, and trying to recover from the effort. When the course opened up again, I was able to make even a few more passes. The back side of the course is super technical and rocky. Everyone was riding slightly more tire pressure to prevent flats. I went with a pretty normal pressure and took some air out of the suspension to give me the extra cushion. The course had a few pretty gnarly berms and jumps so I did have an extra half PSI to keep the tire on the rim in the tough corners. But I ran the extra beefy XR1 tires, so I wasn't worried about flatting. The suspension on my Superfly kept me fresh and my ESI grips were confidence inspiring because I didn't have to grip the bars for dear life to keep control of the bike.

I had the skills on the downhill to open gaps up and make contact with riders in front of me. The downhill was all about recovering to get ready for the big climb at the start of the next lap. I found that the key for the course was all about metering the effort on the climb. Metering the effort so that I reached the top needing the recovery. The hope was to reach the top gassed and take the recovery where you could. Lap 2, 3, and 4 were strong. I had good rhythm and was able to give a strong effort on the climb. Lap 5 was pretty tough. Mentally I had space in front and space behind, so I didn’t need to push too hard. But by the end of the 5^th lap, I was seeing riders behind me so it was all in for the last lap. When I finished I knew I was in or around 15^th place. I gave it full effort and had a big result. Very happy with that. Thanks to all the fans, especially the local folks who made it out to cheer on everyone.

Short track on Sunday was pretty messed up. They did a similar thing with the call ups as in Wisconsin and You had the fastest guys on the front, the slowest behind them, and the middle guys (me) in the back. This made it really tough to battle for the front, and even to stay on the lead lap. Regardless of start, my legs were completely trashed from the day before. I did a longer warm up trying to get them to wake up, and rolled in for 22^nd after battling and consistently moving up the whole race. Happy with it for sure.

Next up is the State roads this weekend, Ore 2 Shore, Chequamegon and of course finishing out the rest of the WORS series. I’m also looking forward to staying local and getting some good rest and then training in. Thanks for reading!