TJ Woodruff ONLINE

(mountaingoat gets the best photoset award)

There’s been a lot of bike racing going on lately and the Alterra WORS was the most recent. After some good races out east I was excited to give it a go back on Wisconsin soil. Ty and the entire Alterra crew put on an excellent event and I had a good time out there racing around Crystal Ridge. The result left something to be desired, but coming away with 6th after bouncing around in the singletack so much, I’m happy to take it. The legs felt good and I was climbing well so next time my handling skills show up I’ll be all set. Honestly though, the Alterra singletrack is the tightest, most twisted stuff I’ve ridden probably since last racing there in ‘04. Good times and a cue for some more bike practice.

Next on the calendar is the Ore to Shore. I’m feeling good about this one and it ought to be a fun weekend kicking off the Triple Crown.  Before racing again though I’m going to throughly enjoy a weekend without zipping on a number plate. Will I be the only one racing 26″ wheels at the O2S?  -TJ

Today’s STXC was alright, nothing spectacular nor bad either. I made up some ground after the start, but didn’t quite have the accelerations to move up and through the groups later in the race. Those first couple laps of fighting traffic take their toll! A pretty good way to wrap up the two weekends of racing… 26th place and making it until three laps to go before being pulled wasn’t all so bad.

Chloe snapped these nice race photos. This one shows the madness of a STXC start and where some of us started from. Click to zoom…

After the race we rode through the Sherwood Forest trails for a final time. Left or Right, which way gets us back? A nice trail ride to cool down. We never found Sasquatch…

And now we’ve got the long drive back to WI ahead of us. It’s been a great trip with some fast racing and a lot of good times with friends. That’s a wrap from the East Coast. -TJ

Today I put together a solid race for the XC here at the US Nationals at Mt. Snow. We raced four laps of the revised course with more steep climbs and little less singletrack. Steady lap times led me to finish line in 22nd place. Starting from the fifth row was a total mess and within the first six minutes of racing I was off my bike and running at three different places. Troy Wells took a dirt nap just fifty feet up the first climb and I was stuck behind him. A minute later on the steep climb dudes were messing up causing a mass dismount and run up. Then a couple minutes later as we started the steep climb of the main loop we were all off the bikes and running again since one dude botched up his line in front of us. Lap two I did faster than the first and regained some ground on riders in front of me. Lap three was done in the same time and I managed to keep the pace going for the forth and final lap too. I was descending faster on laps three and four once things dried up a bit so it was fun to let the Fourstroke do it’s thing over the gnarly terrain. The ZTR Race’s wrapped in the 2.25″ Racing Ralphs were super fast at 19 psi.
In the past I’ve always had a little fear of this course and racing with a greater level of conservation, especially on the steep climbing sections. This year the shorter laps helped my case and I was able to ride more aggressively when the course was most demanding. Racing with Jesse and Marko has helped me refine this tactic… It was pretty cool to have a lot of fans out there in the woods today. A lot of WI people made the trip out and it was awesome to have their support along the course. It was a great day of racing and I’m excited about tomorrow’s STXC. The legs are feeling alright so we’ll see how things go out there.

Congrats to my main squeeze Chloe for repeating her U23 Title on Thursday. Start to finish she put together a solid race and took a hard earned W. This trip has been great times with excellent friends, old and new. Last night Chloe and I had dinner with a really good high school friend of mine who has since moved out here to Maine… Adventure 212 has made this trip possible and I owe Michelle and Chris a huge thanks. Check back for Short Track, -TJ

it’s good to be back to the Nationals!

A quick weekend recap here before our transfer from Windham, NY to Mt Snow, VT… The weekend was a blast and put together a couple of good races. Yesterday was a little frustrating as I finished 31st in the STXC after being as high as top 20 midway through. Chasing around Jesse and Marko was all the motivation I needed to get myself up there, but after several laps there the engine got to be running a little bit too hot. Backing off the pace is never that much fun but it was good while it lasted! After the short track Bender, Jesse, Marko, and I climbed all of the steepest pavement within a 30 mile radius of Windham as we did a sizable road ride. None of us fully intended for ride, but that’s what made it great. Rabid dogs, tainted water and the ever-present town of Jewitt  haunted our journey  of 40+ miles.
Saturday’s XC was four laps of a 26ish minute course. Twenty minutes of tough climbing, broken up with some short descents along the way, was followed by a ripping fast six minute descent. The course was fun to ride and I found a good rhythm on race day. Lap one was alright, lap two was a lot of suffering but I stuck it out to come around nicely for laps three and four. I slowly worked my way through the field to finish 26th. Steady pacing paid off and the result is one of my personal bests. I know that I’ve got more in me so hopefully I’ll get another good one at Mt Snow.

More to come from the next stop…  -TJ

(photos: Phil Kuhns)

Eau Claire WORS proved to be as fast as ever, both in terms of the course and the competition. Little gaps in the singletrack added up and they were too much to close down on the wide open flat sections – no matter how hard the efforts were to do so. Jesse, Marko, and Mike rode away while Chris and I chased, dropping others in the process. As fun as the those trails are to ride, it was frustrating not to be able to let it rip as much as I would have preferred. I could only ride the singletrack so fast and it wasn’t quite fast enough to hang with the leaders this time. A quality race and a solid result despite though… Jess and Craig did an awesome job with this top class WORS event. Thanks!

It was great to have friends and family cheering me on out there. My four parents and four grandparents were attending so that made it an excellent occasion.

This weekend will be the NMBS at Windham, New York. I’m excited to race hard at the national race scene again and try out a new venue – all as a good tune up for Mt Snow which is the following weekend…

I’ll try to get some quality updates from the trip and of course I’ll recap the race action here so stop back here for more from the road. The top five of us from the Eau Claire race will all be racing Nationals at Mt Snow. It’ll be good to have some familiar rivals out there!

TJ