Ore to Shore

Here is a quick and very late race report coming at you! My family and I drove up to the U.P. Friday morning. Emma, Ben Schmutte and I got out for a quick preride/spin.

Saturday morning we were up early and headed to the start. I lined up front row with my teammate Brian Matter and got ready to suffer! Unfortunately, my potential for a great race was cut short, when my chain exploded eight minutes in. I didn't have a chain tool and was stuck waiting until a kind person threw me one. Another friendly dude from Broken Spoke stopped to help as well and we got me up and running again. At that point, I was 17 minutes behind the leaders in last place(667th) with 40 miles to go.

From there I just buried myself. I worked my way through huge groups of people desperate to catch my sister and help her win the big check. With 9 miles to go I finally caught her and told her to hop on my wheel. She already had a few minute gap on second place so I towed her all the way into the finish. It was pretty special to cross the line with her.

Although my race was shot the weekend was still a blast. I got to race with my sister, go cliff jumping with great friends and spend some time up in the North Woods. This pretty much concludes my "pro" mountain bike season for 2018. Now it is time for collegiate racing and cyclocross! Announcements about cross will be coming soon so stay tuned.

WORS #8 Hixon Forest Epic

Last WORS race of the season for me! Hixon Forest in La Crosse is one of my favorite courses and a little rain made for perfect conditions. Per usual I drove up the morning of, warmed up and got my call-up. Right from the gun, I settled in on Cole's wheel and he set the pace.

Photo: Janice Jedlicka

We entered the first single track section together and started to pull away from the field throughout the first lap. We established a solid gap and heading into the second lap I put in a dig before the first single track section taking the lead. Cole closed it down on the descent and heading into the first singletrack climb I gave it some gas to test the waters. I got a small gap and Cole closed it down passing me back midway through that second lap.

Shortly after he passed me back Cole dropped his chain through a rocky section and I hit the gas. I figured he would lose 20-30 seconds and catch me after a little bit, so I decided to at least make him work for it. I kept the pace high expecting to see him coming but it never happened for the rest of that second lap. I realized that this was my opportunity to make a win happen and I continued charging solo.

I rode the next three laps totally solo, growing my lead. My legs felt fantastic, I kept my technical mistakes to a minimum and I never let off the gas. I ended up crossing with over a two-minute lead to win my first ever Pro WORS race!

Photo: Janice Jedlicka

I've been racing WORS for ten years now and racing in the elite race for about four seasons now. I've wanted to win an elite race as long as I can remember and finally checking off this goal feels amazing.

I'd like to thank the whole WORS community for their endless support in me and to my amazing 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 for helping make this happen.