Being the first week back to Wisconsin why not do two races instead of one? I had the opportunity so I went for it. Having done neither race since 2005 it was enjoyable to relive some past experiences while out there on the courses. Back in ‘96 the Cable Classic was the first mtb race I ever did so it’ll always remain a favorite to attend. Without doing an official tally, this may have been my 10th year at Iola.
At the starting line @ the Lakewoods it was 34 degrees with small snow flurries floating about the air. It had rained overnight so the course was saturated and heavy in some spots but fortunately never too slick elsewhere. I ran my Crow/Raven tire combo and had great luck with them. Somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes into the race I was able to separate myself from the rest and get out of sight. Up to this point it took a sizable effort since we were mostly on fire lane dirt roads from the start. The final hour of the race had predominately more singletrack and it was all about enjoying the ride – keeping it fast and flowing all the way to the finish line for the win. Having family and friends there made it a great reminder of why Wisconsin races will always have that unique appeal. Our post race pizzas from the ideal market were a big hit. Who new that there was a stone oven in Cable? I’ll definitely be back for another!
Sunday came around and my legs were feeling alright, but I was generally tired from Thursday’s monster drive and also the race on Saturday. I’ve learned not to give much consideration to how I feel prior to a race since I know that I can do just fine despite any minor nuances. I felt good with the warm up and knew that I’d be in the mix. The first half of the first lap was just as planned. We were going fast and had separated from most of the WORS Elite field. I was fine with the hard efforts and ready for some good racing action. However on the less physically, more twisty turny second half of the lap I somehow got gaped off from the front group somehow. Maybe my tree weaving skills could use some fine tuning, maybe I just wasn’t accelerating hard enough out of the corners, or maybe I just wasn’t paying enough attention, but one way or another a small gap opened and I didn’t really ever get to close it down. For laps two and three it stayed at just 10-15 seconds. On lap four I went by Nathan then on lap five I went by Eppen before the finish. Aside from the first couple of miles I had done the entire race on my own pacing with little or no cooperation or battling with others. Not the most exciting day tactic-wise, but it felt good to stick to the pace, see it through to the finish, and come home with a respectable third place finish. Hopefully next time there’ll be more battling and maybe I’ll have that little bit of extra snap in my legs.
The summer race plans are coming together and there’ll be a couple of trips in addition to doing mostly Midwest stuff. Up next is the Bump’nGrind in Alabama followed by a couple of CO races. Summer’s nearly here and there’s plenty of racing to be done. See you next time, TJ
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