We again ventured up to Wisconsin for another installment of the WORS series. As I mentioned previously, we had intended on doing this race last year, but the flooding kept us close to home. This year, everything came together for us to be able to head up there. My Board exam was done and I didn't start clinicals until Monday. So, we were off to Mt. Morris.
We arrived on Friday afternoon. Unlike most WORS races in which the XC race is on Sunday, the XC race was to be on Saturday since it was the 1st race of 3 in a stage race. It had just rained right before we had arrived, but like all the Wisconsin race courses, the course was in perfect shape. 2 recon laps proved to be plenty in the heat, especially after riding the elite course which had extra climbing at the start, middle, and end of the course that no other class of racers had to do.
We camped, which meant we sweated our balls off all night in the tent and then were up at the ass crack of dawn since apparently the sun rises at like 4:30 this far north. On the bright side, we did not have to share the tent with the pup as we had boarded her in I.C. before we left. After we got moving we headed to town for coffee and breakfast and then got registered. This race was again different for all the others in that instead of the Elite racers starting last at 1:30 in the afternoon, we were the first group to go and we started at noon. The comp men didn't even race with us. I got warmed up the best I could, while trying to stay as cool as possible (because it was like 90 degrees) and before I knew it, it was noon and we were lining up. All of the usual ladies were there, Abby, Holly, Lisa, and Andrea. I really love racing these women. Often times they beat me and sometimes I can get them, but no matter which way it goes, I always have fun and I always end up pushing myself harder than I ever knew I could go. New to me was Jenna Rinehart (formerly Zander) and Erin Disterheft, 2 pros who would soon light things up.
The race was off and like so many times before I was moving backwards before I was moving forward. As we weaved in and out of the single track and went from climb to descent I caught a few women and then was passed by a few. By the middle of the first lap, I was in a group of 3 women, Sue Juedes, Lisa, and I. Jenna, Erin, and Abby were out of site. The other two ladies with me would get a bit of a gap on the downs, but I would bridge a bit on the climbs. Then, as we approached this woop-de-do (for the lack of a better term) I see Lisa off her bike in the weeds. She appeared to be moving ok, so I continued on, not knowing that that wreck had just ended her day.
Start of the second lap brought pain, but a bit more control over my tempo. It was on this lap that Sue and I came across Abby. Sue had it in her to go around, but I hung back behind. It had taken a lot out of me even have caught her, I didn't have anything left to go around. I continued to fight to keep those 2 in sight, but was the lap was winding down I could feel myself suffering from lack of food and lack of water. If I had not mentioned it enough by now...it was hot! Just 2 weeks earlier in Wausau it was 45 degrees, today it was over 90 degrees. Usually, I love the heat, but today it was not agreeing with me. I'm not sure if it was because all Kyle had to give me was water from the car that was hotter then my body temperature or if I simply had not ridden enough days in the heat yet this year, but things took a major turn for the worst.
Lap 3 started and I began wondering how I could ever do 2 more laps. My legs didn't want to turn the peddles over and I just wanted to quit. I quickly pounded some Hammer gel and drank as much water as I could stand. This didn't immediately help, but I knew if I wanted to finish I was going to have to work more on nutrition and worry less about what place I was in. Towards the end of this lap, I could hear Kyle yelling for me to pick it up because the other 2 women up ahead were opening a bigger gap, but I didn't care. All I could still think about was just hanging on. Then, right before the start of the last lap, I came up on an elite male rider. I don't know his name, but he is WORS series number 69. He and I ended up riding my whole last lap together (I say "my" because that poor bastard had one more after that). He was much faster on the downs, so he lead then and I was faster on the climbs, so I lead those. Even though I was not racing against him, it helped to just have someone else there to ride with.
Despite my lack of will during the last 2 laps, I still managed to finish in 5th place. I was the only non-pro that made the podium. I later found out that both Lisa and Andrea had to DNF for mechanical reasons. It turned out to be a pretty rough day for many of the Elite women's racers.
Saturday night brought continued misery in the tent compounded by the fact that we had now each raced in the heat and humidity and were not able to shower. Sunday morning came early once. I realized as I was getting dressed to go practice for the Super D that I had accidentally packed 4 jerseys for Kyle and only 2 for me instead of 3 and 3. My choices were to wear his or one of my stinky ones. I went with the stinky one. It was mostly just unpleasant for me.
I rode my bike up the ski hill to do 2 practice runs on the Super D course and then used my one free lift token to get up there right before the race. It was a Lemond start, which meant we put the bikes at the top of a short uphill. We had to run to our bikes from the start line, hop on, and then start the course. There were only 12 women, so we al started together. Since running is not my thing I was far from the first person to grab my bike, but with the power of my cross skills I was able to run a few yards with my bike and then hop on. This turned out to put me in 4th place starting into the single track. I should have been in 3rd, but I let this women that I had never really raced against before sort of shove her way around me. I later regretted not being more forceful in keeping my spot since she got tired and sloppy right in front of me, which just meant that Jenna and Abby who were in front of her got farther away and Erin who was behind me got closer to me. After this rider finally had to put a foot down in one of the rock gardens, I was able to sneak around, but it was too late. Erin soon overtook me and I didn't have enough fight in me to get back around her. I finished 4th about 1 second behind her. I won't complain though because I was again in the money and the only non-pro to make the podium.
The short track race in the afternoon was drastically cut down in length. Half joking Kyle and I had brought my cross bike along with us so I could maybe ride it in this race. With the modifications they made, it was the perfect cross course. I was not able to take the downhill as fast, but I felt infinitely better on the climbing part. Don, the race coordinator for the WORS series, seemed less than enthused that I was going to race a cross bike in a mountain bike race, but there was not much he could do about it. He even told Lisa that if people like me were going to ride cross bikes in the race, then anyone on a mountain bike should knock me over :) So, the race starts and like the other 2 before it, Jenna is off and out of sight before anyone knows it. Erin was about the same way in 2nd, which left Abby, Holly, and me to battle for 3rd. At first it was us Abby and I. She would gap me on the downhill and then I would close it on the uphill. We did this for 3-4 laps before Holly came from behind and smoked us both. Once I was able to stay in front of Abby on the downhill for 1 lap, I was able to stay ahead of her for the rest of the race. With 2 laps to go Jenna came around me, and thankfully I was done, finishing in 4th for the second time today.
Overall, I finished 4th in the stage race. I had a fantastic weekend of racing against some amazing women. I can't wait for the next race that we will be attending up there WORS #6 Sunburst Showdown.
Next up...Neurology Clerkship which starts bright and early on Monday morning. The Iowa State Crit is July 5th so we will be racing that instead of the 5th WORS race up in Eau Claire.
So,
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