On Saturday June 16th My coach, Josey and I drove from Duluth Minnesota to Madison Wisconsin to participate in the WORS series. The biggest mountain bike series in America. We arrived to the course in the early evening and went for a pre-ride to learn the trails and its features so we could shred race day! 20 minutes in on our pre-ride Josey and I were flying, loving the trails. They were fantastic, flowed well and had many corners (which fits my style of riding). Unfortunately I came into a corner way to hot and slid out landing on my wrist hard. We finished the pre-ride. Afterwards we got ice on my wrist right away.
Thanks to the Swartz family, who opened up there home to us, I got a great night's sleep. Waking up to that warm and humid weather I've learned to live with in Louisville for so long was great. No doubt, I was ready to race. We made a stop to a local bakery as a result of my coaches constant begging for a Chocolate Croissant. I got a blackberry scone myself; it was awesome.
Long story short we arrived to the race. Josey, Andy and I started to warm up. Andy's Mom gave us ice to put down our backs and necks as it was a very hot day. We finished our warm up and road down to the start line where hundreds of riders were already gathering. We were in the "junior elite class" so the actual "elites" staged in front of all other juniors riders. When everyone was all set, the officials did there thing. Then the announcer started a count down from ten. It was tense.
He randomly stopped at 5...
I Pause... (i didn't know what the heck was going on)
"GOOOOOOOOOOO" the announcer screamed for at least 10 seconds. This was strangest start I have ever done. Glad I experienced it.
The field was very large, so it made it very hard to pass people. When we got to the first section of single track (the woods) we were not moving. just sitting on our bikes for at least 15 seconds waiting for the people in front of us to go. After the riders had spread apart I was able to settle into a rhythm and keep passing people as much as possible. Half way through the first lap my coach told me I was was 36 seconds off of 2nd and a minute off of 1st place. I picked the pace up a notch and by the end of the first lap I caught 2nd and was now only half a minute down from 1st. I kept pressing on slowly closing the gap on the leader.
Half way through the second lap Josey caught up with me and we started trading sections to pull and work together. At the end of the second lap we had caught the leader. Josey flew past him in a grass section. I tried doing the same but was elbowed and couldn't get by. The rider sprinted in front of me and Josey right before the next section of woods, getting there first. So Josey and I were stuck behind the rider for the time being. He climbed the switch backs very slow, causing me to bobble on a switch back. So I had to run the rest of it. A gap formed between me and the leaders.
The start of the 3rd and final lap I was 15 seconds off first and in a lot of pain. My coach handed me a bottle of water along with a Cliff Shot to help me keep my nutrition and hydration at the right level. I also received a bag of ice from Andy's Mom which was then stuck down my back. It cooled my whole body off and made me feel re-energized. The whole last lap I was struggling to gain time on the leaders and found myself instead losing time throughout the last half lap. My legs started to cramp and I realized making the podium (top 3) was the only realistic goal I could pull off. I was able to stay away from 4th and placed 3rd. It was a super fun race and would love to return next year! It was another successful day with Josey getting the win and myself 3rd. Happy with how things went and to finally get back to Mountain Bike racing! The WORS series lived up to expectations.
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| Josey Weik 1st, Gavin Haley 3rd. |
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| freinds after the race. |
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