After a intense block of training it was time for WORS #4! In the past the course was pretty flat and boring without much single track at all. This year they added a bunch more gnarly, wet, rocky single track and I was racing the pro course so it was a brutal 30 miles! I got my Wolf Tooth Drop-Stop chain ring and hadn't tried it out but it absolutely worked like a charm, not a single problem which was amazing considering how rough the course was. So, big thanks to Wolf Tooth for the support!
Anyways, I warmed up and could tell I wasn't feeling great and it was going to be a hard race. I rolled up to the start line and got into the fourth row after the other pros got their call ups. Don did the count down and we took off, I moved up the best I could and was in the low 20s going into the single track. The first lap was surprisingly technical but also had a fair amount of hard two track sections that separated the field a lot. I dropped back a few places towards the end of the lap and was mostly by myself for the second lap with no one in sight in front or behind after a few people passed me right at the start. Going into the third lap I got back with a group of people which helped me pick up the pace a ton. That group broke apart going into the fourth and final lap and it was just me and one other guy. I was faster than him on the flats and he was faster than me in the single track so I new I could get him, and in the end I opened up a 15 sec gap on him. I finished 29th out of about 60 riders which I wasn't happy about after finishing 17th in the last race. But, it wasn't a great course for me and racing in such a competitive pro field is never easy, especially for my second ever full pro race! In the end I am still content with how I rode on such a difficult course and I can only go up from here.
My plan for the next five weeks is first flying to Washington to meet up with my coach, Joe Maloney, which was yesterday. Today we drove to Missoula for the Pro XCT and we will be staying here to ride and race until Sunday. Another guy Joe coached will be joining us and we will stay in Boulder, Co Monday through Wednesday before driving to Colorado Springs for the next Pro XCT. After that we drive back to Pulman, Washington where Joe lives and we will stay a day or two before driving down to Bend, Oregon where we will train at Altitude for 10 days. After that we will drive down to Mammoth Mountain California for MTB nationals from the 15-17 of July or so. This trip is, and is going to be super freaking awesome and I can't wait to see what else is in store!!! After nationals there is one more thing from July 20-25 that I can't talk about yet ;).
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