After racing Saturday in Seeley I was actually feeling good by the time evening came around. Maybe it’s true that it doesn’t hurt so much when you win… My dad and I made the road trip to Sova’s place in River Falls that evening, traveling just as we did in the early race years. Chad landed a teaching position and starts this fall so he just settled into his new pad. After some tasty burritos it was late night of Olympic MTB coverage and catching up on some good story telling. The past three we haven’t seen much of each other as life’s taken us in different directions, but that time lost hasn’t seemed to change too much. It was good to breathe some cycling back into his life and maybe we’ll see more of him in 2009 on the race scene. Back in the day we pounded some serious miles day in and day out…
Race day came early and I awoke feeling fresh and ready to go so I decided to kit up and get in an easy spin and course preview. An hour later I was back ‘home’ and new exactly what we were in for. Breakfast was on my plate when I walked in the door and the tone was well set for the day. Chad did the Sport race and set a blistering first lap place only to get a flat. At least he got it fixed and finished up his laps. He was out there long enough to be spotted by the photogs.
Our 1:30 start came with the realization that it was a highly stacked field of WI and MN finest. From the front line it was fast and furious up the climb and I made sure to keep the gas on while cresting so I could put the chase on Jesse. The problem was that I was in chase mode rather than fast singletrack mode. This meant that I wasn’t gaining and only wasting energy. Mikey came around for a bit on the second lap and showed me how to do it. After this I was able to finally take flight on my own. One and a half laps later the gap was apparently down to twenty something seconds though I never saw first hand evidence. At the start of the final lap I was getting sort of tired and there was a lot of lap traffic so I decided to cool the jets and simply ride out the lap. That I did to finish a decent 2nd place on the day. Not quite what I had in mind, but close to it. Had I of ridden the singletrack better on the first two laps maybe I would have been in a better situation. I’m happy with the result and it was a blast to ride the singletrack out there. It was very fast and flowing once I got the hang of it. If they’d throw in another of those climbs each lap it would be even better. A big thanks to Dad for the bottle feeds and to everyone else for the course side encouragement. These WORS races are nearly on par with the World Cup I did in Quebec with super fans all over the woods. Awesome! We’re even getting press on Velonews these days…
Next up is the Laddies Loppet Stage Race at Maplelag Resort this weekend. If your Labor Day weekend plans are still undecided, I’d encourage you to make the trip. The lodging, the food, the racing, and the experience are all top notch. Jay and the Richards family along with their crew really know how to do it up right. Last year I had some good luck so maybe this time I’ll be fortunate and have more of the same.
See you there, -TJ
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