WORS #11 Bear Paw Rock & Roll

Had the best result I could have hoped for.  It was my 2nd time lining up in the Elite field but this time around I was more confident and aggressive.  It also helps that the last 10 days on the bike I've been feeling pretty good and have had some good rides as of late.

Last Wednesday we went out to the trails to lay down a hot lap and I was going quicker for a full lap than I ever have.  There are a bunch of strava segments at our trails and I torched a bunch of them during my lap.  I doubt those will be falling anytime soon.

Drove out to the course on Saturday with a few teammates in Mt. Borah Van.  It was nice to have that ride and have our team comp the gas.  Thanks Mt. Borah, 360 Real Estate, and Kickapoo Coffee!
Things were rough on course.  Super bumpy, lots of roots and rocks.  The singletrack wasn't super fast due to the technical nature.  Riding the Epic was again, a huge advantage.  Not sure how anyone could ride that course on a hardtail without destroying their back.  We were talking after the race and estimating how much time we spent sitting vs. standing.  The results weren't surprising.  A few climbing sections early in the lap but nothing that lasated longer than 90 seconds.  The rest was punchy inclines.
My bottom bracket or what I thought was my bottom bracket was creaking like crazy and driving me crazy the couple days prior - I just didn't have time to jump into it.  So the whole race every non drive side pedal stroke was making noise.  It wasn't until Monday that I figured out it was my chainring bolts from my Q ring. Nice to have a quiet bike again.

Anyway, race started good.  I had good position, wasn't in the red too much and found my spot in line.  Came out of the first singletrack section onto a dirt road and bridged up to the next group.  From that point it was hang on and try to pick off as many as possible.  Third lap we ended up catching a few faster guys and knew I was going to have a good overall position.  At least better than last race.  Basically held on for the 4th and final lap without anyone passing me but the wheel I was following did drop me.  I was hoping to jump him in the 1track and get a gap because I thought I was faster there but he had more power.

Crossed the line 18th overall and 3rd in the age group.  The winner of the group was top 10 overall so that moved me into the 2nd age group position.  Cole House won.  He had 13 minutes on me.  Not as bad as the 20 Brian Matter had on me at Lake Geneva.  What was nice too was knowing that had I raced the comp category I would have won the overall by almost 2 minutes and age group by 4.  The upgrade was justified.

Next week is another race at Levis Trow/Mound.  Depending on who shows up, I'm primed to do well in the 25 mile race.  Get at me bro