WORS wonders

Last Sunday was our day out at the WORS "Border Battle" in River Falls. The WORS series and especially KORC put on a great race at Whitetail Ridge. The race started in WORS fashion, with 15-34 being staged together. Got a great start, pulling the hole shot leading up to the selection climb. This climb was included each lap this year, which made for a more spread-out field; definitely an advantage IMHO. The first lap was very fast, with a lot of jockeying for positions. Towards the end of the first lap, my RH shifter came loose, quickly pulled the MT out of the pocket and adjusted it. Starting the second lap, there was a huge gap to the next rider, but I still ended up dropping my water bottle in the backside field. With the heat that day and it being already the start of a lap, I had no choice but to halt and grab it. Ouch. Third lap, with the gap opening, somehow I ended up on the ground, still not sure how that happened. Finally, fourth lap I was able to pull away and stay in contention for a 3rd place, besting my 4th from last year. Definitely a good day on some very good trails.

Kudos to Joe Surla as he also cleaned up the podium for our team in 4th. Awesome work out there.

Long time, no updates

Gotta get familiar with this blogging thing and stay consistent. The latest for me is the US Nationals Race in July out at Sol Vista Basin (Granby, CO). The race started at approximately 8000' and climbed to about 9200' elevation. With altitude, the lungs are definitely restricted and breathing becomes a large limiter to your performance.

The race started out on an approximate 22% incline. The pace was definitely slower than experienced at other races, just because of the incline and altitude. The course consisted of a front-side climb that sent us up a twisty, rocky, singletrack climb - it was rife for tire problems. Next, a long sandy descent only to be greeted by another long double-track climb. Upon commencing the climb, we get dumped into some gnarly tech detail downhill stuff. The best part after that was descending down the back-side of the mountain, with the valley and edge staring right in front of you. No room for error there. The descent into the finish was fast and slalom-like. Overall, a third-place; definitely a pleasing result.

Another congrats to Tim Williams for placing 2nd, and to all of our other team-mates who made the journey and race: Scott Spoo, Jeff Bushendorf, Eric LeBow & John Oman!