It what could soon become a favorite for MTB racers not yet ready to hang up the bike after the Chequamegon Fat Tire or ride circles & jump cyclo-cross barriers, the 2nd annual 2012 DeerFly Chase at the Hickory Ride Trails this past weekend was held under weather & trail conditions nearly unequivocally to anything else this season.
The trails located just north of Eau Claire in the New Auburn/Bloomer area hold great variety, challenge & fun.
As those of you who know me, it’s not out of the norm for this father of four, that getting to a race on time presents it own challenges. But I actually rolled into the parking area with 15 minutes to spare before the 10am start.
Without anything more than a ride through the parking lot & accepting the good natured razing from the race director, Noah Michaelsen, about my timeliness & from racing c0hort Nate Lillie. It was onto the start line. Taking a survey racers, notably missing was last years champ Chad Sova, having moved further down state. Leadout train machine Mike Johnson, not to mention Nate Lillie down & out due to crash earlier in the week and the vastly improved Matt O’Meara, who so graciously took over child care duties so his better half could give the race a go.
Even so as I lined up I was greeted by expert racer & top 40 Chequamegon finisher Mike Wenzel. With Mark Foslien, and Kevin “I didn’t know he had a bike with more than one gear” Roytek not far behind among many others.
A 4 wheeler rollout on pavement couldn’t be long enough for legs that’d been idle in a car for the previous 2+hrs. Must have been just over a mile when the course finally turned a corner onto gravel & the racing hammer got dropped. Mike Wenzel quickly jumped up to the front to lead up a climb that started to separate everyone. Mark F. followed and I turned over to Kevin R. to basically ask if that’s something we should be catching up to. 
His response to speed up was my sentiments exactly & shortly after the top of the hill it was down to a group of four of us.
Mike leading followed by Mark, Kevin and me bringing up the tail.
It continued on this way with Mike mostly staying at the front & Mark going ahead from time to time. I was still waiting for my legs to feel better & was more than content sitting in for a while longer.
When we hit a couple small rolling climbs I felt modestly comfortable going to the front, to do my part & knew the first section of single track couldn’t be too much further away.
Knowing how strong Mike was at the Chequamegon 40 burying me on the Fire Tower climb at that race. I was hoping his technical skills were rusty. And seeing him struggle just a bit to take a few of the gravel corners it gave me added incentive to get into the single track first & maybe start getting a gap before the race came back out into the open sections. I wasn’t sure what Mark was capable of …..& Kevin? Well, I think his momma must of given birth to him on the trails so it was gonna be wishful thinking if it was the last time I’d see him in the race.
Sure enough, upon hitting the single track, it’s said how fast gaps can open up and it’s true. I accelerated quickly and not far in I soon had a nice 6 or 7 second gap on Mike and it was growing -- so I settled in at a more comfortable pace. However minutes later an opening in the trail later allowed for Kevin to pass Mike & Mark and the hunt & chase began.
I rounded a 180 degree turning section the course to look back and see Kevin steaming up the trail. Ok, decision time…. ease up and work together or hammer down again and make him work hard to catch up. I foolishly choose the later. I don’t know what I was thinking. It wasn’t like this early in the raceI was gonna ride him off my wheel. The only guy I was gonna wear out in the process was myself.
Even so, I pressed on. At times he’d sound closer, and then it’d be silent or on some turns and corners I catch a glimpse of him. Seemed like a constant 7-10 second gap. He was a both a shadow and a mechanical sounding demon bearing down after me.
I was doing my best to ride smoothly and not take chances, at one point I thought I was able to finally get rid of him… uh, not the case, he later told me it’s just that he dropped a chain & that what delayed him. Ugh. Finally after a few more miles he eventually climbed onto the back of my wheel.
Far be it from me to hold back a superior technical rider so I gave him the pass & he lived up to what everyone told me about him. He took to the front like a man possessed…. I’m mean, seriously…. look at this picture below, can you honestly disagree with me? The look in the dude’s eyes? He’s hell bent on ripping my legs off & only then content after beating me with them.
Kevin’s got a style of riding that is effortless, subtle and smooth. He’s carves a trail like a hot knife through butter… and yet flows along it like that same stick of butter melting on popcorn. One minute you see him, the next he’s gone.
Disappearing in the shadows of the trees, with the only hint of his presence? The particles of dust lingering in the air as he’d power out of the corners.
Chasing… & chasing…
It was like one of those old Looney Tune cartoons with the skunk chasing the cat, except the other way around. I was the the Cat scrambling for dear life to hang onto the easy going Pepe Le Pew.
Uh…What is this dude’s kryptonite? …cause I gotta find it & find it soon…
The course had changes from the previous year and while it was single track intensive in the first half I wasn’t sure what to expect in the second half. More of the same & I might be checking out & saying adios to Kevin. However the course is broken up nicely and has ski trails & some gravel roads in the middle of the race before getting into some last remaining sections of single track.
On the open sections Kevin & I figured we were probably clear of any chasing racers and got to chatting a bit while still trying to keep up the pace. For a guy who mostly rides a single speed, he didn’t forget when & how to shift gears. He pulled a lot of the open sections & where I could I tried to trade off & go to the front.
When we entered the last sections of single track some of it was old & some newly built. At a particular tight section I had to joke with him as it was definitely made for 26” wheeled bikes as even his superb skills were being put to the test. He was on a 29er hardtail, I on the full suspension 29er.
On the newly created single track, my full suspension helped a lot to soak up the bumps while Kevin was bouncing around abit more. At one point he took an alternate path & told me to go to the front.
It wasn’t shortly after that I could of sworn on a switchback we’d just come through, I’d seen a rider, probably Mark F. behind us clear as day not more than 20 seconds behind. Again Ugh. It’s never fun racing, thinking you’ve got an “out of sight, out of mind” gap only to find out it’s not the case. So whether it true that Mark was that close or just where the different sections of trails come together I’m not sure. But it gave me all the motivation I needed to keep the hammer down & I told Kevin I wasn’t gonna let us blow the lead we had.
When we finally came out of the final single track it was a few more miles to the finish but in mostly open ski trails. I figured Kevin would be plenty ready to go -- after all I was fully convinced he could have been whistling Dixie & filing his nails all the while following me in the previous sections of single track in how easy he makes it look when he rides it.
I asked him if he wanted to trade off taking turns at the front every 30 seconds or so, but sorta rolled his eyes & gave me the you’ve gotta be kidding look. Nonetheless, I went to the front, did the ‘ole “making friends with the pain-cave” and began to turn over the cranks with what I had left. Kevin did a big share of work in the race so I wasn’t gonna mind taking over now & just let the chips fall where they would at the finish.
With 2 miles to go I looked back and Kevin had fallen alittle bit back. I was just looking forward to getting to the finish line, so I pressed on and slowly the lead increased to about 20 seconds. With a mile to go, I saw the smiles & cheers of Nate Lillie & Matt O’Meara at the top of hill yelling at us. Quite amusing when I used to seeing them grimace in the races with me.
Anyways, I was also getting some slight cramps & backed off alittle to save myself in case Kevin mustered a come back. But it wound up that I could enjoy the final mile cruise into the finish line. Seeing my wife, Kate & the kids cheering. Also getting to appreciate the far from easy win with how hard Kevin pushed it throughout.
Kevin followed in with 2nd, followed by Mark, Mike & a really good ride by Adam Tripp. Lot’s of racers came through with smiles on their faces so I gotta assume it was enjoyable to all regardless of results.
After a quick cool down & catching up with some of the other racers, it was off to the post race gathering for food & beverages. I don’t know the formula as to why, but some races/event, just really “have it”. The DeerFly Chase is one of them. A really great event with a low key friendly atmosphere. Consider putting it on your calendar for next year, I pretty sure you won’t be disappointed. Lot’s of thanks for the people and sponsors that worked so hard to make it come together. Noah Michaelsen & co, my appreciation goes out to you for making a great event that so many people could enjoy.
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