WORS #3. Finally.

Finally confirmed to myself that I'm capable of racing MTB somewhat fast.

Jane and I went up to Wausau, WI for the third stop of the WORS series.  Drove up Saturday and got to check out the course.  Lots of open sections, ski trail and double track.  Good for passing, bad if you're faster in single track.  I'm not quite sure where I fall in that category.  Probably a good all rounder.  I ride my home singletrack really fast but in other places I still do too much brake checking - but apparently it was good enough this weekend.  Couple singletrack sections had some big rock gardens - but the full suspension 29er made those not much of an issue.  Couple good climbs, 400 ft vertical per lap.  Knocked out 2 laps on saturday and called it good.

Sunday came and Jane was lining up for her first ever MTB race.  She totally killed it.  She was racing in the Cat 3's where they only do 2 laps of a shortened course.  She worked her way to the front before going into the woods and never looked back.  She knocked out 26-27 minute lap times.  If she was racing in the Cat 2 women and kept her pace the same for a 3rd lap she would have placed 2nd overall of the cat 2's!  There actually was another rider who did give her a run for her money.  They traded places the whole race until Jane attacked on the final open section and put 20 seconds on her before the finish.  The rest of the cat 3's were 7-8 minutes back.  So both her and the other chick were sandbaggin.  She says she will be racing more WORS races and in the cat 2's next time.

I warmed up ok, was feeling good, but not super.  Got to the line early and waited.  After call ups there were only a couple spots open on the second row.  Me and some other guy sprinted the 15 meters to the spot and tangled bars.  Luckily I didn't crash because that would have been embarrassing.  So I lined up on the 2.5 row.  They yelled go and we were charging for the first 90 degree turn, I was probably 10 back.  A few more turns and more double track and I was 4th wheel into the first single track.  The guy in front of me was going a little slower than I would have liked and by the time we came out, there was 1 off the front.  I was able to jump him and second place but also, my teammate racing the SS category came around with another SS.  I settled in.  A few more sections and the eventual winner came around and bridged to the leader.  Looking back I should have jumped the 2 SS guys and stuck his wheel but I stayed.  At the end of lap 1 it was us 3 with the 2 up the road and out of sight.  At this point my teammate was blowing up and I left him.  I was riding ok but my 2nd lap was probably my slowest.  A bit later I caught the other SS'er and left him for good.  I was riding alone in 3rd place for the remaining of lap 2 and going into lap 3.  This is where I started passing cat 1 riders.  I passed minimum 10 of them.  I was rolling steady and feeling good.  I never knew how much further they were up the road though - there are too many waves and people on course to know who's who.  No one ever passed me though and I rolled to the finish about 1:30 behind the the 2.  When it was all said and done 1 racer from a later wave and different age group had a faster time and bumped me down to 4th overall.  2nd in the 30-34 age group behind the overall winner.  so yeah, first mtb race of the season was good.  I know i can go faster too.  I haven't done any structured intervals yet - i can add some speed to the tank.

Next up is an endurance race at the IMBA epic Levis Mound trails.