I came across the line in fifth at the Eau Claire WORS Firecracker yesterday. It was full on racing from start to finish and I felt pretty good out there for the most part. Mike, Brian, Jesse and Paul were the first to get a gap. Fischer and I chased with Marko in tow. First we got Brian, then we caught Paul and by now Fischer had dropped off the pace. It was Paul and I trading pulls with Marko along for the ride. By now the lead duo was out of sight so we were racing for third. On the final lap Marko launched is first and very well timed attack. Paul dropped me in attempt to respond, but even he couldn’t match the pace. I eventually passed Paul back and it was a full on sprint for the finish as we came out of the woods next and next. He had that little extra left in the tank and took me handily in the sprint to the line. I was pleased to of had a strong race despite losing out at the line. Jesse and Marko are for real on the rigid singlespeed 29ers. I’ll admit I had my doubts, but I quickly learned first hand that these guys have really raised their game this year. Awesome.
Not only was the racing great, but so were the people. I like coming back to my college town of Eau Claire to catch up with familiar faces. Frank, Milton and Marci from the Community Fitness Program came out to cheer. My grandparents, parents, and sister all made it too. Craig and Jess were kind enough to put me up for Saturday night so I got plenty of quality rest there. I didn’t see a whole lot of Craig though since he was going above and beyond to help pull off the race weekend. I think he pulled three straight days of dawn to dusk out at the venue – that’s some serious volunteer work. Just three years ago none of those singletracks existed so it’s pretty cool how far the local CORBA group has taken mountain biking in the Chippewa valley. Post race it was dinner out with one of my first college friends, Joel, and his fiancée, Bethany. Good times and good burgers were had though it took me for ever to convince my race-wrenched stomach that food was in fact a good thing. I even found Sova at his place downtown so we hung out for a bit. He’s gearing up for Ore to Shore and the Chequamagon this season, so let’s hold him to it. I’ll be that many of you miss his presence on race day. Last year it was he and I battling it out at the finish here in Eau Claire if I remember correctly…
With Mt. Snow under two weeks away I’m really getting excited for Nationals. Vermont is a true mountain bike race course and I’ll be honest and say I’ve yet to have a good race there in my two attempts. I’m hoping that the third time will be the charm. I’m feeling good on the bike and have just enough time to fine tune now. This weekend holds a couple potential options for racing so I’ll have to see what becomes of that. Chloe is back from Canada and will be visiting WI as of tomorrow so I’m sure that she’s looking forward to the humidity and wood ticks once again.
Keeping it Real, -TJ
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