Last week/weekend had some great racing. Last Thursday at the Hillside Park race my legs felt a little mushy yet from the long rides the weekend before. Thats what I love about the shorter local races during the week- they give a really great opportunity to assess my condition for the bigger races on the weekend. Pushed kind of harder in the first half of the race and was pretty comfortable in 5th place, probably could've pushed the whole way to catch 3rd or 4th, but wanted to stay fresh as possible for the Border Battle on Sunday, so backed off a bit and went just fast enough to hold 5th.
The Border Battle was great! Awesome course, event, people, team, finish- it was all great! 12th of 198 overall as it turns out (5th of 25 in age group). Thankfully, Adam Leiferman came up to say good luck and offered to pass off a water bottle after the first or second lap- I was completely out coming around to start the third lap- thanks Adam! From the start, though, I was starting to question how this race was gonna turn out. They called up the top 3 in each series...for some reason they omitted my name as I was in 3rd place- yes Bryan Rhody (Peace Coffee) has been finishing just ahead of me but he was still in 4th. I just got on the pedals and lined up behind Ben Rogowski (Freewheel Bikes); and in classic WORS form after the National Anthem "GOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" , we take off. I was in about 15th at the bottom of the initial climb as the outside (left) line seemed to be the fastest- we had the inside. Still, though, on Ben's wheel, we ducked further to the right, on a path less chosen, and went by most- at the top of the climb going into the field we were 4 and 5 (I think) right on the leaders. Halfway through the first lap I had an incident one WI rider. I was obviously faster- tried passing- he blocked- elbows out and swerving to the side, tried announcing the pass (some riders like that)- he blocked, WTF?? went to pass again, thought he was gonna finally let me by, nope! -elbows out and Captain America runs me off into the trees- UUGGGHH!!! Who races this hard HALF A LAP into the race?? Growing up in the world of auto racing I learned at a very young age that you go slower when you're racing the person behind you. My Dad taught me a lot about how to handle these kind of situations in racing: the leaders were already pulling away when I was stuck behind him, and now were completely gone. A few riders I passed earlier went by as I was riding in the deep grass dodging and jumping trees in the ravine trying not to crash or lose too much time. I reminded myself of past situations like this in auto racing- keep calm and stay smooth- you'll catch him and eventually everyone else. Stay smooth, stay smooth- kept saying to myself over and over. I caught and passed a few riders that got by earlier and lone behold, here comes Captain America dead ahead just as we crank out of the woods and up shift a few gears into some flat double track through a field. A high speed sweeping turn to the right, with somewhat of a pronounced apex, was coming so I started to pass him on the inside going in- maybe my tires just couldn't hold the speed, but, gee...I had to exit the turn REALLY wide (with him on my left) and he ended up WAY out in the weeds off the course ;) gee, so sorry about that :) He didn't get it as bad as he gave me but, thats ok, I was ahead. Back to "relax, stay smooth, stay smooth" :) Never saw him again for the rest of the race. He was racing by looking back over his shoulder and thats exactly the direction he ended up moving through the pack.
Anyway, from this point on the race really took off. The course is still fairly new so much of it was very rough and kinda sketchy- exactly how I like it! The Turner Nitrous frame soaked it all up nicely and the tubeless conversion made my bike feel like I've got an extra inch of suspension with twice the traction. I found a good fast rhythm and I was catching the leaders in laps two and three- my last lap (#3) was the fastest- but, ran out of time. However, I was really stoked over the great finish! This whole event will go down as a highlight of the season for me. Got to hang out and talk with my coach TJ for a bit and watch him race, which is always fun! He and Jesse Lalonde really dropped the hammer on the Pro field. Also, got a chance to meet and thank Kyia Anderson for the advice last fall.
...but in the end, WI dropped the hammer on MN- 94 to 112- lowest points wins. They get the traveling trophy. Well get'em next year...
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