Rhinelander

WORS number 2 was held at camp Tesomas just outside of Rhinelander. Last year at this race Jack Schirpke invited my parents and I to stay in a cabin with him.  Thankfully we got to stay in that same cabin this year.  Since we had this cabin the whole weekend, my dad and I drove up friday and got in late.  The next morning we got up, did some things around town and headed out for a pre ride.  I went out with teammate Nathan Guerra, and Wilhelm, master mechanic at the trek tent. After doing a lap I realized this was going to be a hot and dusty race.  On race day it was 80 degrees and with the rain holding off, it didn't seem like it was going to very different conditions from the pre ride.  After watching my dad race in the sport race I got kitted up and started my warm up. After the warm up I headed to the line.  Everyone was already at the back of the start shout and I was sitting about 5th row.   Once Don called us up I moved up 1 or 2 spots. Don called GOOOOO and we were off. After the first turn I was already up to the top 20 and was battling to move up.  Once we hit the first section of single track I was about 15th.  Powering through the first lap I was feeling good and flew through the start shout out onto my 2nd lap.  During this lap the temperature started to drop and it was getting darker out.  About 1/2 way through it started to downpour and my dad said it was also hailing and that the tornado sirens were going off.  Not knowing if Don was going to call the race Matt Gehling and I took off.  We got to the start/ finish and Don say's "keep going you've got 2 more".  This little bit of rain was just enough to make the trails perfect, the dust was gone and the trails were tacky.  With new found energy I tried my hardest not to blow up on the start straight.  I got through the 3rd lap with ease and was going strong on the 4th lap until the rain came back.  This time the sky really opened up and didn't hold back.  It poured so hard it created rivers that ran through the trails and created giant puddles everywhere.  With no brakes and my cassette clogged up with sand I pushed through the last lap and rolled through the finish. I think the only thing not clogged with mud were my crank brothers peddles Now with the rain finally over, I found my dad and he told me, he thought I finished 12th. After waiting about 5 minutes WORS already had the results posted and I was officially 13th overall and 2nd in age group.  I rolled back to the cabin showered and went back for  the awards ceremony.  While waiting I said to my dad "watch they will pay out top 12". We waited and my age group came up.  David Flaten (left) got called up, then Kyle Sarasin (right) and finally myself. I walked up and got my award. 

 Even though I was second in my age group, Joe Maloney, who is really killing it this year, took 7th overall and was on the overall podium and doesn't count toward the age group podium. After the podium it hit me I missed out on the overall podium.  As I guessed only the top 12 got payed out.  

After a long day in the saddle and a long drive home I need to get some good recovery as I'm doing the Bone Ride on wednesday. Below are some more post race mud pics. Check out http://www.xtrphoto.com/ for some great photos of all the racers.