It's rare that I attend or travel to races alone. Typically I'm with my wife or my family and they support me if every race need. This weekend I was on my own but with a short trip to Calumet on tap it wasn't to be much of a problem considering the short drive and no bottle drops required on course. My in-laws and Amber were gone to IA so I even had their house for the weekend.
I was on my way back to Calumet to defend my win from last year. This would be my first time ever wearing the #1 plate and I was excited about the pressure and pride it carried. This meant a lot to me to show up and defend this title. So much so I decided to skip the WORS race and take another hit in the overall standings..
The course was a bit different this year so I really didn't know what to expect. The one thing I could expect is I was going to stick to my game plan. Patience is a hard thing to learn but it can be valuable in many ways in MTB racing. Used correctly it can produce many wins. In order to learn patience you have to practice patience and that was my game plan. It's quite typical of this race every year to roll out with quite a few guys but as you hit the single track it slims down. This year was no different and entering the single track we had about 7-8 guys including Carp, Wakeley, and the eventual winner Tesch. It was also nice to see some young talent in Karinen and local riders in Sarasin and Lash with us. It wasn't long into the single track and the selection of 5 was made. This is also typical of this race as there isn't really a lot of hard terrain to cut the group down. There wasn't much going on during the race as I was content working on my game plan and the others with exception with Carp didn't have much interest in leading. I would take a section and then Carp and it stayed this way until the last 2 miles. I sat 5th one time in the group when I took a wrong turn and Carp had to yell for me to turn around. (Thank you Carp. Much appreciated.)
Side story: 2 years ago in the Ore to Shore I was sitting 5th or so in a group coming down to the last 2 miles and the lead 2 guys took a wrong turn and I corrected them by yelling for them to turn around. They ended up catching back on and both beating me that day. At the end of the race I questioned myself to why I yelled for them to turn around when it was their mistake, it cost me 2 spots. This weekend confirmed why I did that. Because I would want someone to do it for me and Carp did. The mountain bike community and racers are a special group and I have learned it's about the relationships we gain. I will always offer a helping hand in a race if it is the right thing to do because I know my fellow competitors would do the same.
The end came fast in this race and before I knew it the 2 miles to go sign was posted. Wakeley jumped immediately and I was quick to take his wheel and still wait for my turn. Coming out of the last single track and with about 3/4 miles to go I made my move as I had practiced as much patience as one could in this race. I put a small gap on the group and thought I could hold on to what I had gained. It was a snowmobile trail followed by a 1K road to the finish. Just before the road Tesch caught my wheel and did not move. A lot went through my mind at this time on what to do but as I peaked back Wakeley was catching and I wanted nothing to do with 3 men at the finish so I kept the hammer down. With 200M remaining Tesch came around and there was nothing I could do to get it back. No repeat and 2nd overall.
I took a lot from this race and I'm positive that it will give me something to use in my future situations. Patience could have worked here but like I said before you have to learn how to use it and I didn't use it right in the end. Then again, that's racing and you can never predict how a race will play out. It was a lot of fun though.
The next day I did an awesome 3 hours on the Tech trails and ended it with a 5th & Elm coffee break. Back home to shower and pack up but just as I thought I was done Copper was telling me otherwise. If a dog talk could talk, he would have been saying, "Please, please, please, pretty please, I'll never be bad again. Just take me on some single track, please!"
So back out we went for his turn. Then on the way home we decided to end the trip with a spontaneous stop and River Falls. And even though I reinjured my shoulder it was slightly worth it :) What an awesome end to a great weekend.
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