Back in the swing of things – WORS #1 Iola

Blog updates or not, life marches along.  The past couple months have been full of….

-New addition to the family

-The most hectic time of year in business

-Training hours and training hours…..did I say training hours?

But with race season finally happening it’s only fair to get around to an update.  Opted to jump start things a bit earlier than normal this year and give the 1st round of WORS racing at Iola,WI a go last Sunday.  Normally on the farther end of how far I prefer to travel to race, but with a big winter/spring of training & some good signs from that -- to see how things could go was a temptation that was hard to pass on. 

Perhaps for most folks in the Midwest, & certainly in Northern WI Spring hasn’t exactly resembled anything more than slightly gloried winter conditions.  Wind, cold, rain… snow & more snow.  So the enjoyment factor on outdoor training wasn’t optimal as one could hope for but there is a pleasure in taking on what challenge Mother Nature puts before you .  (As long as you have time to clean up the condition she puts your bike in when you’re done. )  Also there’s a great saying that “However great the will to win, it pails in comparison to the will to train to win.”

May 1st & WORS #1 arrived with conditions not all that unlike March 1st (or perhaps even Feb 1st).  36 degrees & windy.   That said it’s MTB racing and it’s not like I’ve not been training 90% of my time in that weather or colder since last November.   Beside I’m guessing it would beat the Soggy Hundo training ride being done by my compatriots in the Chequamegon Bay area or the legendary La Flèche du Nord U.P. Spring Classic held over the same weekend.   We (Kate & the 4 kids) somehow got to the race well ahead of schedule – (undoubtedly that would shock someone like Tom Carpenter that it was even possible.)  Brought down both Kate’s SuperFly100 & my Trek Top Fuel 9.9, equally good bikes to be racing.   Which on a side note – myself, not bothering going the route of sponsorships for riding or racing.  I get to race machines & use equipment that I don’t “hafta” love, hence any critiques or comments come out are straightforward & without bias.   Not saying it happens out there but Sponsors want love even if what the athlete needs to do is provide Tough Love. 

The tires I had on the SuperFly 100 where slightly better for any unknowns I might incur – a Rocket Ron front, Bontrager XR1 on the rear – in hindsight the conditions would have been fine for any tire or bike.  The course was bone dry and perfect despite all the rain & snow of the present week & earlier.

After a brief warmup and shuttling the kids around between the kids race & the van, it was time for the start.  I was worried that a big Elite turnout & poor starting position would occur as Iola is normally one of the highest attended Elite races in the WORS series as those racers are looking to test their off season mettle.  Fortunately I got in behind Todd McFadden and after the initial call up of last seasons riders, we had about a 3rd row starting spot which was plenty fine given the open starting area & immediate hill climbs to follow. 

Now…. how did the race go on the hounds were released?  Ah…well, I’ve had better days and worse days.  The start had me in the high teens/low twenties early on.  I was able to pass people and settle in.  Thinking - ok, this is good.  Punching up the hills wasn’t overly taxing and weaving the single track went fine despite a 8 or 9 month hiatus since last doing so.   Iola has a genuinely enjoyable course, nice amount of speed on the open areas & single track that has very good flow and smoothness to it.  It was a 5 lap, 25mile-ish long race.  Lap one was fine, lap two got a little tougher and on lap three -- what I was counting on overcoming with the extra hours of winter training – didn’t come to fruition.  Just over 45minutes in I started to run out of gas and started on the slipperly downhill slope of losing positions afterwards.  In that time Todd McFadden went by, he was cruising and having a super day finishing in the top 15, couldn’t hold his wheel.  Not much later, a group of 5 or 6 including Tyler Jenema & Adam Swank picked me up – which by the way thanks for the encouragement guys – however I just couldn’t continue to hang with them dropping off and finding a pace to finish up on.  Lap 4 got alittle better and but by lap 5 I was ready for the day to be over.  Not that I was bonking but I couldn’t keep the heart rate or power up where I’d of wanted to be racing at.  Surprisingly with about 1/4 mile left in the race I came upon a familiar jersey in Adam Swank who apparently really lost the gas in his tank and after not seeing him for the previous 2 laps scooted past him before the finish.  34th on the day of 60 starters.

Not the debut to the season I was planning on, but I was at the tailend of a 3 week training block that has been beating me down something fierce.  Some top knotch training & workouts I’m getting in, in preparation for later in the season where my focus is but for a racer like myself it undoubtedly compromises the front end results of my season.

With any luck I’ll get back to a couple times per month blogging entries.  Up next on the schedule the 10th anniversary of my first MTB race – the Cable Off Road Classic.   If a new person to riding, or aspiring to race well, can  take a message of hope from my experience -- that time and effort is on your side.  In 2001, I staggered in 240th of 280 finishers.  A crushing finish to an endurance athelete, former collegiate XC runner & marathon runner.   But I got over it, within a few years got more serious and the past two editions of the race have 15th out of 186 & 14th of 246. 

Get out & ride!