WORS Report

I went for a ride today and saw a crow eating a dead crow. I thought to myself "that reminds me of our presidential candidates." I don't know how I got sucked into it, but lately I have been spending considerable amounts of time paying attention to politics. As sad as that is, I am happy to report that bikes are still cool.

My new Cannondale FSI - this thing rocks

I skipped the Eau Claire round because its a pretty far drive for me. Next was at Minooka Park, in Waukesha, WI. I showed up there with sore legs and it showed in my results with 24th overall in Cat1. It also showed in my training the following week. I felt horrible after that race.

Enduro Course at Cascade Mountain for the Midwest Mountain Bike Championships

The Midwest Mountain bike Championships is a 2 day event, so I packed up the family and all our camping gear and headed up. We got there and it rained for 6 hours straight. The race was a disaster anyway, but it didn't help that I missed my start. I considered skipping the race since I missed the start, but the way it works is you don't get any points for Sundays races if you don't race on Saturday. So I went out and suffered in the mud and rain for a couple hours and rolled in dead last.

I came back Sunday to blue skies and sunshine. The short track course dried up pretty nicely and was not a mudfest. It had some slick spots but that just kept it interesting. A short track race is very similar to cyclocross, and it is definitely short. 18 minutes of pain.

That was Sunday morning, in the afternoon we had the enduro. The idea of an enduro is a group ride to the top of the hill, then every 30 seconds a rider is sent barreling down. The shortest time to the bottom is the winner. It had rock gardens, some whoops, berms, stairs, single track, drop offs and other obstacles along the way. I had a really great time with this format of racing. There was a social aspect to it, as if we were all just hanging out. Once it is your turn to go down though, its balls to the wall. 

Got my first ever call up in La Crosse

Next race was in La Crosse, WI. I was debating on going because I am kind of a lazy turd and like races that are close to my house. I am glad I decided to go, that course was really great. You start off with about 3 miles of descending on a dirt road with heavy erosion. I honestly thought I was going as fast as I possibly could, and was fearing for my life, when David Carew passed me and several others like we were standing still. I can picture it perfectly in my mind, and I still don't understand how he didn't go flying into the trees.

After that long down hill we climb back up 2 miles of wide single track and hop out on a paved road. We take that back toward the start area and dive into the woods. This section was the tightest single track I have seen at a WORS event, very challenging at speed and all descending. Back up the hill again, this time with lots of spectators who were giving out marshmallow peanut hand ups. Then we head into some nice flowy single track. I don't know what my problem was in the flowy stuff but I lost time there every lap. 

I was finally able to break the top 20 with a 16th overall in La Crosse, which was awesome considering I have been stuck at 21, 22, and 24 up till now. I am starting to get used to the new bike, but I don't feel like I am using it to its full potential yet.

Next race is near Green Bay, WI. I may skip it depending on if I feel like making the 3 hour drive or not. I will for sure be at the Lake Geneva round September 11th. I hope to see you there.

2016 WORS Mt Morris

SS Gearing 34x18

21st Overall (pro/cat1), 2nd age group

I took the family with this week.  We got signed in and I showed Evan the kids course, he didn't stop riding all day. I had to stop him because his race was about to start. He had a great time. 

My race went really well too. I was concerned about gearing because there were some really tough climbs, but there was also a long section of fast open woods.  It ended up being the perfect compromise. I was suffering pretty bad on the climbs and still able to keep up in the open stuff.

Mt. Morris had some really technical and rocky descents, by the end of the race I was really beat up. I am writing this a week later, and my abs are still in bad shape. The low cadence long climbs really tore me up, then the fast rocky descents hammered it home.

The nice thing about running single speed is that no matter how bad you hurt, you can't shift down and go easy. So I just kept digging and ended up improving on last weeks result.

Top 20 isn't too far away now, the next round is in Eau Claire, WI. I have not decided if I will be making the drive up there yet.

2016 WORS Cam rock

SS gearing 34x18

23rd overall (Pro/Cat1), 3rd in age group

It had been quite some time since I had raced a Wors race, and I had some doubts if I belonged with the Cat 1's. I placed really well in Cat2 a couple years ago and decided to move up, and hadn't raced wors since. 

So it was nice to get out and run a good race, and get a solid mid pack result. It wasn't an amazing result, but it showed me I was in the correct group.  I have some room to improve, the goal is top 20 by the end of the year.

The race starts off with about 60 riders at the bottom of a big hill, everyone pushes hard to try and get into the woods. I have been bitten by this setup in the past, when you push way to hard and get out front then end up blowing up half way through the first lap. So I pushed hard but didn't kill myself.

I was happy with how things were going on the first lap, I wasn't getting dropped on the open sections and I was killing it in the single track. The SS rigid El mariachi is such a solid platform in the tight stuff. The 26lb single speed definitely has its disadvantages, but the woods is not that place.

On the second lap, I passed a geared bike and he was complaining when I spun out on the next open section. So I hit the nitrous button and pushed really hard, by the end of the second lap I was hurting pretty bad and had to take the 3rd lap pretty conservatively. On the 4th lap it came back and I was able to push again. I passed 6 guys on the last lap, and rolled into the finish chute. 

I was pretty pumped with how the day went.

Trans Iowa Training

I think the best part of Trans Iowa is the training rides. No other race motivates me to get out and waste entire weekends on the bike. I toured Southern Wisconsin last weekend, looking for the biggest hills, while doing a couple back to back 100 milers. It was awesome.

Hugh Jass Fatbike Series Race #3

Photo from Hughjass.bike

Over 100 people showed up to race the third round of the Hugh Jass Fatbike series. We finally got some snow to race to make it feel like a real fat bike race. I had never ridden the Alpha trails before, but they are worth checking out if you are in the area. We did 5 laps of the 3 mile loop, starting with a bomb run down the sledding hill, turn and come right back up to separate the field a bit.

Photo from hughjass.bike

There is a 3 way points battle for the series going on between Brad, Dave, and myself. I had been sick the week heading up to the race so I wasn't sure how things would go. It was my lucky day though, as we went into the first corner Brad and Dave got tangled up. Not bad enough to put anyone on the ground, but enough to lose momentum and a few positions. This allowed me to sneak away behind WORS pro Cole Haus and Cat 1 racer Randy Rollins.

They both took off and left me pretty easily. So my first lap was pretty easy, then on the second lap we got into lapped traffic. The Alpha trails are tight so passing is impossible unless the rider pulls to the side. This involved a lot of communication and patience but during a race patience is not always something I have a lot of.

Brad and Dave were able to move through the traffic better than I was and on the last lap were able to work right onto me. I turned it down a bit to recover knowing they wouldn't be able to pass on the single track. It would all come down to the last sprint up the sledding hill.

I gave it everything and it hurt pretty bad, but I was able to hold them off. That is the way it has worked out every race so far. None of us has won a race yet, but we always finish together and consistently in the top 5. It makes for a fun and exciting series.

Photo from Hughjass.bike

My dad has been doing the series as well, and seems to be really enjoying himself, he finished 59th of 96 in the open men class. The promoters put on an event that is fun for all levels of skill and everyone is there to have a good time.

Next race is January 16th in Glendale, WI. Hope to see you there!

Hugh Jass Fat bike race #1 at Minooka

The Hugh Jass fat bike Series put on by Wheel and Sprocket and Badger Bikes started off last weekend.  It was an extremely well run event, and definitely offered some "twists" from typical bike racing. 

Hammerschlagen

I think the biggest twist was the hammerschlagen. In between each lap you had to hammer a nail into a board in order to pass go and begin your next lap.  I had a hard time with this, it was almost like a duathlon, just when you get done climbing this giant hill you turn and sprint to the bottom then hammer a nail. It was a challenge and made things interesting.

My dude and I getting ready for the start

Gooo!!!!

Unfortunately last weeks snow melted with some rain during the week and left the single track a mess. So the course was made up of entirely cross country ski trail. This time of year that is just the way it goes.  That makes a course that favors someone who is in good shape and can turn a big chainring. 

Currently I am not that person...  Spent too much time drinking beers and hunting deer, instead of grinding gears the last couple months.  So my plan was to start hard, hold on to the top guys as long as possible, then back off  and save some for the end.  

Everything went to plan, I got a really good start. Hung out with the lead 3 guys for a lap or two then backed off.  When I backed off two guys got by, but I was able to get one back on the last lap for 5th overall.

Like I said earlier, it was obvious that the promoters of this series really wants it to succeed.  I was really impressed with the prizes, the turn out, the smooth registration, the timely results, the free beer, and the not so typical bike race routine.

U.S. Fat Bike Criterium National Championships

     The title sounds so serious, but ironically it is probably the least serious race I have ever attended.  It was a 30 minute race, plus two laps.  Extra credit was given for costumes, but no one took advantage of the 30 second head start allowed to anyone wearing a speedo.  30 seconds is a lot of time, but hardly worth frostbite on nipples.

     The race was held on groomed ski trail around the Wisconsin State Capitol.  It is part of the Madison Winter Festival, which is home to the state XC ski championships.  So after the skiers were done, we took to the course at 8pm.

     They tried to put cyclocross type barriers out on the course to make things interesting, but with everyone on fat bikes we just rolled over them like speed bumps.  Scoring was done on the honor system for the top three, and everyone else was considered fourth.

Fat bikers invade the Capitol

I got a free entry to next year

     Afterward everyone headed over to the local pub, where everyone who put their name in the hat received prize.  Prizes ranged from Power Taps to socks, the amount of support and swag that they were able to round up was unbelievable.

     It was promised that anyone not having fun was to be pulled aside and beaten with a ski pole, but it never came to that because fun was had by all.  –David Swanson

Winter in Kettle Moraine