By Jesse LaLonde
The mental battle leading up to race day can
be more stressful than lining up with a handful
of the midwest’s finest. What to eat?
Did I eat enough? Tire pressure? The list goes
on as does the local WORS
series. The entourage of team 29er was in full
force as Marko
and I
joined youngest bro James
and team Jackass
to round out a solid hand of big wheelers.
With
the race calendar clean this race brought in
what could have been one of the most competitive
races of the middlewest. Mike
P. fresh off some slamming NORBA’s.
Bender and Peariso also riding the NORBA train
and rounding out the powerhouse adventure 212
team along with Planet bike pro Tristan
Schouten and Gear Grinder Guru Brian
Matter. You may or may not recognize these names
and if you follow the latter then you’re
soon to be introduced to one of them along the
trail. Did I mention Eppen? Brian Eppen the
lone Iowan who would later prove he came to
rage.
Goooooooooooooooooo! The stacked field of approximately
75 tore off towards the nine mile foliage like
it was endangered. I had a left hand start which
pushed me into the thicker strip of grass along
the fence. I floated towards the center of the
group and pegged it ensuring my safety into
the ski trail. With only five riders in front
of me I heard the clamor of scraping metal and
cursing. Rider down! Avoiding the unseen pandemonium
I surged passed the lead riders who seemed content
with letting me. I pegged it for the second
time in three miles and pulled the snake of
riders up the first substantial climb into wood
chip row. It was apparent that the players were
in tow as I sat up and let Tristan, Eppen, and
Ben Moore by. Being careful to sit in and recover
from my opening lap surges I slipped into suit
and enjoyed a new nine mile course. As we climbed
up Ho Chi Minh I briefly second guessed my 36:16
but wrote it off the minute we hit ski trail
and opened it up again.
My
racer instincts began to wander as I kept focus
on the three riders ahead. Who’s gonna
break this group? At the moment nine of us seemed
to be playing the accordion when the brakes
locked. Not clear on what happened but it appeared
that Eppen wrangled Tristan whether intentional
or not. Ben slipped by and we fell back into
line with the youngster pulling hard towards
the first water station. I was lucky enough
to douse my back as the uncharacteristically
warm temps quickly reminded me what WORS racing
is all about. My lead out recovery was coming
around as I downed the precautionary clif shot
and bolted towards the front. I was anxious
to see who came out to play as I hit my favorite
part of the course. With Eppen on my wheel I
saw a gap and ran with it. Whether my competitors
knew it or not I was beginning to turn the screws
when Pop! Whew, not me as I glance over my shoulder
and witness Mikey go to the gravel. Next in
line was Marko as I motioned and yelled that
“this was our break.” I led through
what felt like the fastest part of the course
at high speed which according to the garmin
maxed at 32.6mph within the same 3 mile stretch
to the start/finish area. I was going for the
out of sight out of mind race which seemed to
work considering our gap by lap one. I continued
to pull at a medium pace through lap two where
I threw a short but hard effort in to see where
we were at. Eppen countered and kept wheel with
Marko close behind. I was getting pooped.
On the open I sat up but no would pull through.
I asked if this was a road race? Eppen: “Maybe.”
Somewhere through the wood-chips we lost our
Iowa friend. Marko went by like I was standing
still and said get on. I had no choice and used
my diminishing surge to catch his wheel. “What
happened to Brian?”, I asked. He dropped.
Marko continued to pull up Ho Chi Minh faster
than the previous two laps. Fast enough for
me to nearly pop or at least get sloppy and
burp some psi’s. Luckily the AR casing
of my dry x tire is enough to keep it beefy
at 12! We began to rotate through as the fatigue
crept in. Like so many practice sessions before
we moved like clockwork. Marko would take care
of the climbs with me pulling the flats and
cruising the single track. Entering the final
lap I punched it pretty hard leaving Marko with
a,”damn this is starting to hurt.”
I felt the same way as my spinning head regained
focus and I let Marko once again pull my fat
ass up the HCM. It wasn’t until the last
four miles that I began plotting an attack.
I knew that I was riding the single track well
all day and the fact that the Lapped riders
were beginning to show left me no choice but
to go. Every lapped rider must have heard an
echo. On your left, on your left as I used his
own voice to gauge my effort. Sticking like
glue it wasn’t until the final strip of
single track that I got a gap. Hard to say how
much but enough for comfort or was it. Coming
through the double wide sections just before
the finish I passed one final lapped rider.
Seconds later I heard a stick snap? Thinking
it was the rider I just passed while glancing
over my shoulder to see Marko on my wheel! Despite
what he might say, that kid knows what he’s
doing. If it wasn’t for his molestache
he may have been able to pull the sneak attack.
We flew
into the finish at max rpm’s with only
.5 seconds separating us. While the overall
competition fell victim to flats on top of flats
I gained a new level of confidence as I’m
sure Marko did also. That was a race!
While
a large part of racing is fitness a portion
of it is balanced with equipment. Whether you’re
getting the flow from the local shop or an inside
friend there’s a reason why you use the
products you use. Believing in your sponsors
and their equipment is huge when putting it
to the test week in and week out that’s
why I’m coining the week of June 8-14
“love your sponsors” week. Can I
do that? Looks like I just did. Send them a
card, hi five, a hug… well only if you
feel it’s necessary. creepyfriendly
