The final 12 miles of Saturday will haunt me for 364 days. I can still see Simonson looking back at me over his shoulder. A gap of 10-20 seconds stayed all the way to the finish. I dug hard, but could not bring the biggest diesel back… Second place at the Ore to Shore in my second ever attempt is a solid result, but I can’t help but think of how easily it could have been different. I made a critical mistake at the bottom of one of fast and twisty dirt trails. I took the left line while Simonson, in front of me, stayed right. At the last moment I saw the water crossing preceded by an approximate three foot drop. I braked hard, rolled off the ledge and saved what could have been a much worse incident. While I was doing this Mike Anderson and Marko who were just behind me rolled past, likely just 3 seconds behind Simonson. I shifted out of huge gear from a near standstill and accelerated myself back up the hill and soon got on the rear of Anderson and Marko. A moment of respite while they kept on Simonson was the plan. Back to four riders, no harm done with the incident was my mindset.
Thirty seconds later, half recovered from my effort to get back on I realized that these two guys were not staying on Simonson very well and in fact the gap had grown from three seconds to perhaps five to ten seconds. This was enough for me to jump around and initiate the chase back. While I did this Simonson realized that this was his time to pin it. There was never an attack, he just rolled off while I was trying to take a quick breather. Anderson followed me and Marko popped off. Anderson put in a couple of quick pulls while I rallied hard in chase of the leader. Anderson popped not long later and it was everything I could do to keep chasing. I was hoping for a single uphill, but late in the this race it’s all flats and descents. I never got discouraged and I kept at it. Pouring what I had into the pedals. I could see him ever straight section of trail and he knew that I was close behind. This went on for twelve miles! Once we were on the final pavement sections I realized that his chances of making a mistake were slim to none and I was content to roll across the line in second. We matched each other that entire time; it was all about timing and holding on… One mistake on my part and Mike capitalized. He’s tough and he rode smart - we’ll deserving of the win. I’ll surely be back for more next time…
Spending a couple nights in Marquette was a nice getaway though there wasn’t much down time. The rain and wet conditions on Saturday meant some extra work getting things dialed for Sunday’s WORS race. It was fun to catch up with a lot of friends there. After doing this bike racing thing for awhile now I realize that it’s the people and friendships that make it all so appealing. Don’t get me wrong, I love the suffering, but having friends to suffer and share the experiences with makes it all that much better. Thanks to everyone who’s helped along the way. A big thanks to this guy for setting me up with the fast rolling big wheels.
Check back for the WORS report to come next. -TJ
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