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.
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