TJ Woodruff ONLINE

Don and the WORS crew put on a fantastic Subaru Cup once again. I’ve been able to do this event three consecutive years and it keeps getting better. The racing was fast and duking it with familair rivals was a lot of fun.  Just as with the past two years, I placed third in the XC once again. This time the action was much closer and I had to overcome a poor start. Such is racing, but perhaps a cleaner start would have afforded me another attack or two to use later in the race…  In the end Tristan had the best timed acceleration and none of us could reply. Jesse came just a bit closer than I did to finish second while we dropped Matter who finished for forth.

Super D and Short Track were each really fast with some good battles going on. I lead the Super D through the woods before Tristan got by, then we were both jumped by Matter going up the sole climb on the course. A fun super D and some fast times for sure.  It was a bummer to have lost air from my rear tire during the STXC since it limited how hard I could ride the downhill which included a couple of hard corners.  Brian and Chris were charging hard with Tristan in tow. I don’t know that I would have been with them at the end, but none the less it would have been more interesting to find out instead of needing to ride conservatively so as to keep the tire on the rim.  All tallied up (this year by points, not time) I finished 3rd on the Omnium.  Not quite the win as from last year, but good riding none the less.

Aside from all the race action, the real highlight was catching up with a lot of great people who I don’t see all that often.  Peariso’s were an awesome host and it was really cool to have a place to relax, hang out and enjoy the weekend.  It was great to see many familiar faces and to be back at WORS. Thanks,

The couple weeks spent in Colorado have gone by awfully quickly.  Weekend races book-ended weeks full of great riding. There’s been a lot of afternoon rain showers out here so the mountains are borderline lush. Having just my 29er here has meant some extra time spent on the trails enjoying the thin air, the green and the mountain trails.

Climbing Vail (by Brian Schaning)

Teva Games was to be a practice race for the Colorado Springs Pro XCT race. Having raced Teva the past two years I knew that it would be a good test of the climbing legs with some fast, fun descending. Nothing too technical, but enough to test to the skills a couple times. A lot of guys had a similar idea to use Teva as a warm up since a lot of the series guys were there in what made it a more competitive field than ever. Twentieth was an alright result all things considered. Chloe and I met up with Brian post race to take in some of the festivities that make the Teva Game unique. We watched some fly casting, rafting, trials, and rock climbing before getting a pizza and eventually making the drive back to Boulder.  It was an action packed day trip for sure.

The following day was a 50 mile mtb ride with Chloe. Experiencing the Heil-Picture Rocks-Hall ride was awesome. The singletrack was built for bikes and it flows like no other.  I had to go back on Wednesday to do it all over again…

STXC Action (by trailwatch.net)

On Friday we raced STXC and Saturday was the XC in Colorado Springs. It was odd having a Sunday w/o racing but I made due. The STXC course was fun to ride but 100% not suitable for more than 15 or 20 racers. I’m sure that the course used works well for their local series, but it was a joke to have 40 or so of us out there at once. With no call ups given for over 1/2 the field and the widest sections at about eight feet wide, to say that moving up was a challenge would be a huge understatement. From the back I made my way up to 23rd before being pulled.  Maybe next time they’ll have a suitable course for us otherwise I won’t be too interested…

Up and Out! (by trailwatch.net)

Saturdays XC was going to be tough. The climb wasn’t necessarily steep, but it definitely wore on the legs.  It was after 12 minutes or so of climbing that we encountered the rocky technical challenges on the rolling terrain of the upper part of the course.  And the downhill was never a no-brainer. It was consistently inconsistent with changing surfaces from rock to dirt to gravel with fast corners, tight corners and plenty of boulders to negotiate.  I felt alright about the course but knew the technical nature of the loop would be my biggest challenge.  I had an excellent start and rode in the top 20 for the entire first lap, following Andy Schultz on the descent.  A large number of riders gained on us while descending but I mostly maintainedposition the second time up the climb. The second time down the descent was my fastest, but significantly slower than what other riders were doing. At the start of the third lap I had lost some ground despite more or less doing the same pace.  It was probably seven riders or so that went by me on the third lap and the fourth and final lap was the same story as I finished 35th.  Sure it’s still just better than mid pack, but that’s not really what I was going for. The fitness was mostly there for a top 20, but the skills were glaringly lacking.  It’s frustrating, but simple – I just have to learn how to shred more!

Up next is a return to WI for the Subaru Cup.  The fitness is good and I’m pumped with the idea of racing fast with the Brians, Lalondes, and my 212 bros.  After doing three nationals it’s refreshing to think about being in the front end of a bike race once again… See you there.

Thanks to Adventure 212, Specialized, and all of my family and friends for helping to make all of this bike racing possible. The racing community thrives on thegenerosity of many and I’m grateful for the opportunity.  Next time I return to CO Springs, I’ll be rallying that downhill faster!  -TJ

I traveled south for the latest stop on the Pro XC Tour.  The race was in Pelham, Alabama and my sister’s family lives not too far away in Georgia, so the relatively close proximity made the trip out all that more alluring since I could visit them for a couple of days on either side of the race. This was my first trip to the South and it ended up being a fantastic time. My nephew Mason is nearing two years old, so he’s an awful lot of excitement to be around. He loved seeing all the bikes!

The course consisted purely of screaming fast singletrack along with a couple extended sections of pavement to complete the loop. This made for intense racing since there wasn’t much along the lines of vertical gain to separate the race, instead it came down to lap one positioning and singletrack speed.  I had the call up for the final spot on the second row so that wasn’t so bad but the bottleneck entering the singletrack wasn’t the best. Being just five spots further up could have made a huge difference that first lap since there was essentially zero passing opportunity.  Hitting the paved climb on the first lap, just over 10 minutes into the race, I was sitting 27th  and not much changed from there. I went on to finish 25th after zipping through five laps of the course.  It was 90 degrees and humid, but fortunately I had excellent family support in the feedzone.  Going through 100 oz in 100 minutes was serious,  drinking only when I was thirsty.  And to think that the locals were saying that it wasn’t all that humid…

Up next will be the Teva Mountain Games in Vail, CO. Thanks to Adventure212, Specialized, and NoTubes for the support.  -TJ