WORS #4/Sunburst Showdown - Tyler's Race Report

The course description on paper said a lot climbing and fast descending.  We pulled up Saturday to a ski hill and that description was confirmed by our eyes.  Not a terribly big ski hill but it offered its fair share of climbing.  Not much single track which is a bit unusual for a WORS event but they still managed to add some fun with the downhills.  The course went up the hill 3 times, each time switch backing up the hill.  The worst of the climbs was the 1st about 1/2 mile into the course.  It switch backed 4 times before entering the woods into a straight up leg kicker.  It entered a the only wooded single track back down and then ran us through some cedars back and forth about 4 times before climbing and descending again, for the most part a pretty boring course but tough.  

With my two prior Comp finishes and my 10th in Pro/Elite in Wausau it was enough points for a call up.  This was the highlight of my weekend and I was truly honored to be called up with such great riders such as Tristan Shouten, Brian Matter, Nathan Guerra, Darrin Braun, Chris Peariso, and Barry Wicks.  These are pro's at the highest level and I earned my way to the same front line they had their wheels on.  I took the last spot on the front line and Tristan was called up after me.  As much as I wanted to stay there I took a step back and offered my spot to Tristan as he has eared that spot a lot more than I have.  I was happy to do that as I know my day will come to be on that front line.  I was surprising calm after that and my HR was an amazing 30 beats lower than my first Pro/Elite race.  I managed to keep in between 110-120.  My nerves were calming and I was ready to hear the infamous, "GOOOOO."

The race quickly funneled to a 4 foot wide trail and huge train was formed up the first climb.  I can only imagine what it looked like to a spectator with 4 switchbacks of riders linked wheel for wheel.  It only took about 3 minutes for the 6 pros to make a group and the next group yo-yoed behind.  I was in the 2nd group about 10-15th going up the first climb.  Tyler Jenema and I were together in between two groups for most of the 1st and 2nd lap with a few guys passing us catching up to the group ahead.  On the third lap we were combined into a group of 5 and Tyler and I led this group for most of the 3rd lap.  On the start of the 4th a rider made a steady move up the 1st hill and left us down to 4.  Somewhere in the middle the two other guys slowly pulled away but I was OK with it, confident that if I stayed steady and didn't overdue it I could pull them back in on the last lap.  Beginning the final lap I upped the tempo just a bit and committed myself to working hard on all the up hills on the final lap.  This worked and I slowly put time on the guys behind me and more importantly pulled in guys in front of me.  A strong tempo and some small attacks on the final lap enabled me to pass 3 riders pushing me up to 17th overall.  

I didn't feel spectacular and I didn't have as much power as usual but I felt good.  Having a small conversation with my mom at the end helped me put this race into perspective.  She had mentioned in my past races that I've felt really good and the bike has been amazing.  The bike was once again amazing but I was not 100%, but it's OK as I'm learning and coming to accept you can't be on all the time.  

This was a great weekend.  I was humbled by both my call up (to know that I have a lot of hard work ahead to be with the best) and my conversation with my mom (realizing that I'm blessed to be in my position and have had great luck to this point.)  Bike racing is full of ups and downs both literally and figuratively.