WORS #4 Battle of Camrock

Good ride yesterday.  WORS #4 outside of Madison.  Excellent course, technical, bumpy, tons of singletrack - the way a MTB race should be.  Probably the best course that WORS has, or at least the best course that I've been to.  Limited passing in the first half of the course made it a bit difficult but I had the best race to date.
Everything leading up to the race went as planned.  Got lots of good rest, ate well, legs felt great.  Thanks for a heads up from Britton at Volker bikes in Kansas City, I made the skratch labs rice cakes.  That stuff just became my new pre-race snack.  I put some down on Saturday as an after dinner snack and then Sunday for a pre-race food after I ate breakfast.  That is some clean burning energy.  In combination with the skratch drink mix - you can't go wrong.  Super fuel!!!  

Back to the race, with the abundant tech sections on the course, I wanted the holeshot and be able to ride the singletrack at my pace, which is usually faster than my peers.  Lined up 2nd row (still don't have a call up) and hammered the grassy uphill leadout that levels out for 200 meters before dumping into the woods.  Took the lead and had a train of 3 on my wheel.  Flossed the trails and kept the pressure on until about 2 minutes later when we hit the back of the 40-44 age group wave.  This was very slow going trying to work through that mess.  Not to mention that the open women who were clogging the flow.  Last race we were the first wave of the comp's to go off - what a difference that makes.

Anyway, I had 1 guy on my tail - 10 seconds back for the first 1.5 lap - this slowly grew larger and larger. The first time through the start/finish Jane told me I was in 18th - she didn't know I was leading my wave and age group.  So I had 18 40+, in front who started 2+ minutes before.  I kept on the pressure and was pinning the climbs - lots of short, punchy singletrack.  Was feeling good, took a gel and new bottle from Jane.  Second time through she told me I was in 12th - still no one from my wave had passed.  On the 3rd lap I caught a brief glimpse of the guy in the blue kit after I slowed it down a bit.  I put a few more digs in and never saw him again.  Meanwhile I was still passing people left and right, and starting to come up on the last of the elite field.
Right before I went out for my 4th lap, a stranger asked if I wanted a bottle - I was running low on my last one (my 3rd) and it was the best hand up ever - the most refreshing bottle of ice water I could ever imagine. I had just taken my 2nd gel and this was icing on the cake.  Came through the start finish and Jane had me in 8th overall.  I knew I was running good and with the starting time gaps had to be close to the overall win.  I kept it upright and ended up passing 4-5 more from the 40+.
Crossed the line at 1:50:36.  First in my age group, first in my wave, and first overall by 30 seconds.  So yeah, I had a great race and have begun to do what I know I'm capable of - and I know I will only get faster.  I'm no jedi knight in the singletrack yet, but I'm getting there.  The good thing is that it's easier to become a true ninja in the singletrack than it is to add 50 watts of FTP.  Maybe thats why I like MTB so much?
I will stay in the Cat 2 Comp category for the remainder of the year and with 5 top 10 overall's in one year will earn an automatic upgrade.  So far in 2 races I'm 1st and 4th.

Next week is another good course in Eau Claire for WORS #5.  I'm looking to do the exact same thing as I did yesterday, and will have the odds in my favor.  Ninja studies continue....