Chasing fast Deer and riding in the reFORESTation

The Great Deer Chase

Courtesy of XMatic

Last week a few of us got together in Calumet to go deer hunting.  To my surprise 58 people came out for the hunt including fellow teammates Tom Carpenter, Justin Weber, and a few Wisco guys, Aaron Swanson, Paul Belknap, and Matt Hudson.  We all met down town and rolled our way into the woods.  Right as we left town 4 of us spotted a deer trotting through the woods so we pursued.  Myself, Tom, Paul, and Matt were up for the challenge and the chase was on.  We chased this damn thing for over 20 miles together.  He ran swiftly right down a groomed trail which was perfect for us being on mountain bikes.  We kept him in sight the whole time but he made us work.  He was a bit of a show off through as he cornered at top speeds and everyone of us crashed at some point trying to match the agility of this, thing, they call Bambi or is Bambo?  22 miles into the race I saw another deer bolt down the road and I chased diligently.  This had to of been Bambo!  The other guys must have decided to keep chasing bambi because before you know it it was just me chasing bambo.  I never did catch that guy/deer but wouldn't you know it he lead me right to downtown Calumet to a bunch of cheering people and they said I was the 1st one back from the hunt.  I guess they like the guy who comes back first.  It was a great hunt and a blast of a time and next year maybe I can catch Bambo and be first back.

WORS Reforestation

After a day of hunting in Calumet I thought it would be nice to visit the forest for a leisure ride.  I found out fast that I showed up to the wrong forest for a leisure ride.  Standing at the trail head were guys like Schouten, Braun, Matter, Guerra, Anderson, and Peariso.  Everyone was planning on doing 3 laps/36 miles.  I said, "What the heck." and joined the party.  The guys didn't want to wait to push the pace so right off the start line the pace was high for the 3 mile roll out.  A long line of us entered the first single track until the elastic broke creating 2 groups.  It was a lead group of 7 or so and a chase group of 5.  The course wasn't terribly hilly but the single track was windy and punchy.  The hills were quick but steep and it took a lot of power, right up my alley.  The single track took every bit of my skill as I learned how to ride better single track following guys like Krayer and Koenig.  Man can they rip!  We went through the first lap with 5 or so and then Koenig started throwing attacks creating small splits.  At one time it was Koenig and Krayer up the road and I had to make the decision to stay or bridge up.  With a violent effort and 2 miles later I caught them and it was 3 of us.  At the start of the 3rd lap we were joined by Seth Lenss and Chris Peariso.  Koenig put in some more attacks and put the group down to 4 and that was followed by an attack by Peariso and he rode solo the rest of the way.  The 3 of us remaining stayed tight and flew through the single track to the finishing stretch.  Krayer attacked from 3rd position and I had nothing to follow.  I rolled in 3rd of that sprint for a 9th overall.

It was a solid weekend of racing for me.  My 1st Elite win of the year and my best finish at the Pro/Elite level for the WORS Series.  It is an awesome way to finish up August and I'm looking forward to finishing out the season strong.  A couple more MTB races and then the start of cross season all in prep for the big show, Iceman Cometh.