WORS #5 Redflint Firecracker

I'm going to allow the media to give the race report and I will be allowing you inside the moment every professional strives for, victory.  I want to reveal the moment from this past weekend.

In a sport where victory's come few and far between, even for the best, I am incredibly grateful to have reached the top step in the greatest race series in the country.  This sport takes more than the effort of one.  In the end, only one steps up to raise his/her hands but behind every win is God, family, friends, sponsors, fans, and the race.  Without the support of each the strenuous work put in does not come to fruition.

This is why when the top is reached the moment is surreal, incredible, and a complete joy.  The most genuine smile you will ever find on my face is shared with my mother in this incredible moment.  This moment drives my passion to train and race harder so I can see the joy on her face again.

We race in the best, strongest, and largest race series in the country.  The effort of the race directors, WORS staff, and the athletes have developed an extremely competitive series that brings the best to the start line 12 times a year.  A win in this series is extremely difficult to come by and the first may be the toughest.  It is because of this I feel blessed to have the health and ability to even line up for a victory on Sundays.  They say that the 1st WORS win is the best, at this moment is sure feels that way.


Thank you to all who are with me, in front of me, and behind me.  Cheers to more to come.


Resluts


     

Keweenaw Chain Drive 2012

The Keweenaw Chain Drive is the kick off to the 2012 Upper Peninsula MTB race scene.  The Upper Peninsula has developed some great races and the Chain Drive is the front runner.  I would love to see all the Upper Peninsula races create a UP series but that is for another conversation.

All UP races are special to me, even if it is not in my back yard of Ishpeming. When I'm on the UP race course I feel at home.  With that, I put the extra pressure to represent the UP and my sponsors on my home turf.

Besides the great competition and incredible course one of my favorite parts of the Chain Drive is the neutral roll out.  It is rare in MTB to be moving and not racing.  Its enjoyable and a nice change of pace.  The competition is highly competitive.  In the past it has seen Professionals in B. Matter, C. Peariso, M. Anderson, and D. Braun.  Along with other regulars in T. McFadden, T. Carpenter, and A. Swanson.  The combo makes for an incredible scene.

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The Race  

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They flipped the course this year to introduce some new trail.  The biggest change was the first 1/4 of the race where it is mostly 2 track and steady climbing.  B. Matter and R. Baumann took the jump at the KOM prize so I followed them into the first single track.  Baumann led us to the 2 track and I quickly took over and put in a small dig up a hill.  No response from the field so I allowed it to come back and stayed on the front at tempo.  Eyes and mind forward I tapped the pedals and when I did take notice it was only Brian and I on the 2 track climb.  I upped the pace a bit to solidify the gap.

With a pure and natural grin on my face from the single track we were cutting I rode the front until the about the 1/2 way point.  I was feeling decent and kept a cool pace in the single track and dug a bit at each incline.  With the legend, B. Matter, on my wheel I gave up the front to monitor his efforts and get a feel for how he was feeling.  I was not under pressure so I didn't worry about any hard efforts by letting him take control.  He controlled the same pace up to 4 miles to go where we entered the final single track.  It drops you down to the bottom of the river and you climb back out until the finish.

Rewind:  Brian and Chris P. dropped me on a downhill last year at the finish of the Copper Harbor Fat Tire.  I took some constructive criticism for it and made an effort the remainder of the year to better my handling so it wouldn't happen again.

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Fast forward: I figured Brian might do the same on the final single track and he did, making his dig.  He put small 3-5 second gaps on me as he handles technical trail so smooth.  You can see the experience with every turn.  Unlike last year the gaps were manageable and I would pull them back on the incline.  We got to the river bottom and Brian washed out as we crossed the river.  I made my dig to see if I could create a gap but his experience and strength kept him calm and he shortly pulled in back.  Feeling good I kept the speed high as I figured we were in for a game of cat and mouse.

The leadout:  I didn't want a straight 1 on 1 sprint so when I got to the pavement I made a move but shut it down quick seeing his response.  Hindsight, the strength of Brian in the sprint I wish I would have put all my cards in on that move.  I didn't and peaked over the should anticipating his move.  With no sign, at 250m he shot forward creating a 1 sec gap.  He kept and and I rolled through 2nd.

The After
The race was over but a lot to look forward to.  All my nephews raced in the Jr. Chain Drive.  Each one of them road a different distance but they all rode single track.  It was an awesome scene and keep my motivation high to see them follow in such an incredible sport for a lifetime.  The look of determination on their faces will keep me pedaling forward for a long time to come.

Sunday morning I joined up with Brian Matters JR. MTB camp for some Tech Trails single track.  Brian has a great thing going with this camp and it is encouraging to see so much particiapation and even more encouraging to see such talent at a young age.  After the camp concluded we (Brian, Ryan T., and Billy S.) got our time in at being Jrs.  A lot of fun and a great way to end the weekend.
      




Pictures:  Photos marked with brockit.com are pictures courtesy of brockit.com.  Please do not print or produce these phots without the permission of brockit.com.  If you would like to purchase Chain Drive photos visit their website.

WORS #3 Wausau Big Ring Classic

I'll give you the recap from my eyes and allow Claire from WORS media to give you the big picture.  She does a great job with the media.

I had 3 scheduled days off in the week leading up to the Big Ring Classic.  I had just ended a 5 week block and a weekend where I did 15 hours and the O2S course 4 times in 3 days.  I was more than ready to allow my body to recover.  I'm usually pretty good after rest weeks and my legs respond well with in a day or two back on the bike.  This time I had run myself so close to the edge the rest days were crucial and truthfully I could probably have used another day or two.  For 3 days my body shut down in attempt to conserve energy it did not have.

It was back on the bike Thursday to get the pooled blood moving again.  It wasn't until Saturday that I felt my legs started to circulate again.  Come Sunday I had felt good but still had the lingering effects of a fatigued body that took full advantage of rest.  One thing I have learned this year is that even when the body doesn't feel right or the legs aren't great the mind can push them into a pretty solid effort. So I was ready.

Fast!!!  That could be the start, middle, and finish of this report.  The Big Ring is always fast but with so many names showing up in Wausau this was one was particular faster.  We have our current WORS dominators, past WORS dominators, and the up and coming wanna be dominators.  All in all that is a big group of riders that can push a pace.  The courses lead out had some sharp turns to start and no one wanted to be in the wrong place so positioning came at a premium.  The premium, hard efforts.  I entered the single track about 7-8.  Not ideal because the first rocky section was sure to split the group at about 4 or 5.  To my surprise at the wall we were still all together.  Up the hill at a chill pace and the group swelled to about 10.  I stayed in about 8-9  the whole first lap which in hindsight, even with so much drafting, was not a good spot because of the yo yo out of the single track each time.

Lap 2 we rolled to the gradual climb together and attack was made off the front by Stelljes which at first gained no reaction.  Eventually a couple followed and it slowly but surely split the group.  I shot out the back but battled my way back up to Neff and M. Lalonde.  I pulled Lalonde away from Neff and we were off on the chase.  I was confident with a steady pace Lalonde and I could pull back some riders if not the front group.  I did my work for the remainder of lap 2 and at the start of lap 3 the single speed turned the pedals up front.  We started to see Maloney and Stelljes and I swear Lalonde tasted blood.  He raised the pace and I was left to suffer and chase my own.  By the end of 3 I had attached with Maloney and once again thinking together we could chase down Lalonde and Stelljes.  Rolling through the rocks Moloney had an accident where I swear I heard his bone shatter.  I felt absolutely terrible for riding away but there was a race to be fought.  Losing some fire power I honed in on keeping position to the end.  1/2 lap left Phillips caught me.  I was glad he did because he pulled a huge gap to get back to this point after dropping a chain early on.  I figured he might be my ticket back to the front.  1/4 lap to go he flatted and I was alone again.  I rolled in with cramps but fairly strong in 5th place.  Just a minute or so off the front.




WORS recap here and results here.  I'll have more on this later but thank you to the WORS series and Claire.  We race in the best series in America, hands down.