I am out in Missoula now for the Pro XCT UCI weekend so I will keep this brief! This was WORS race number three of the season! This time on my home trails in Cambridge, just 25 minutes from my house.
After a weekend off from racing and plenty of big miles, I was hoping for a big result with a bit of home-course advantage. From the gun I pulled the hole-shot up the infamous start hill, past the big crowd all the way to the top where I preceded to get bogged down in some would chips right at the top of the hill. I had to unclip one foot and it dropped me back to 9th place. I gained two spots back before entering the single-track.
The course was so tight and twisty that there was nothing I could do to move up until we popped out on the gravel road part way through the lap. I knew it was the time to move up and latched on when Ben Schmutte sprinted to close the gap on the top three. From there the lead group of five was established, Cole House, Pete Karinen, Brian Matter, Ben, and me.
On the third (maybe second?) lap, Ben attacked and stayed on the gas for a full lap straining the group but never breaking anyone. The rest of the race was a series of all-out assaults followed by soft-pedaling. We were all pretty evenly matched and when it was really hard, it was hard for everyone but not quite enough to drop anyone, and when it was easy, it was easy for everyone.
At the end of the fourth lap, I was dangling a little bit and when we hit the start climb Cole attacked hard. Everyone stood up and went with him, I tried to as well but I seemed to just stay in one place as the group drifted away. I was about 15 seconds down, but luckily the group slowed down and I caught back on. When we popped out on the gravel road with half a lap to go, everyone just looked at each other and no one made a move. We basically soft-pedaled the upper single-track section all the way back to the bottom of the finish climb. We rolled up through the switch back berm climb and down the little single-track descent and into the two-track portion of the climb. Everything hit the fan there as we sprinted up the climb through lapped traffic, I came out and around Brian into fourth position before we hit the last single-track section and then into the finishing shoot.
I came through in fourth place, just a few bike lengths behind the win making it the first time I have ever been in sight of the finish of a WORS race! Overall it was a decent race for me but I was definitely hoping for more. I just didn't have the legs to really take advantage of knowing the course so well or to make a move before the sprint to try and get away and obviously going into a five-man sprint in fifth wheel is never the proper move.
The highlight of the day was getting to finally, actually race with my teammate Brian Matter. Brian is someone who I have looked up to as a role model and a mentor since I first started racing ten years ago. He's helped me grow throughout the years immensely and especially in 2017 as he helped me train to win a national championship title and for MTB worlds in Australia. There is no racer I respect more and crossing the line ahead of him accomplished a goal I've had for years :)
As always big thanks to my team Linear Sport RT and our sponsors: Trek, Bontrager, Wheel & Sprocket, Styled Aesthetic, Kettle Moraine Preservation and Restoration, and David Hobbs Honda. Thank you as well to my personal sponsors, Englewood Grass Farm, TOGS, Fox Racing Shocks, Honey Stinger, Mike's Mix, Wolf Tooth Components and ESI Grips.
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