Wausau Mudfest
This weekend was another epic weekend for me. It began early Friday night with a nice ride up to Neenah to hang with some friends. The next day one of my best college friends was married at Camp Web in Wautoma. He was the first of all my friends 'to go' so it was pretty wild- a big reunion!
I left Camp Web at about 7 am. The plan was to meet Rachel at an exit and we would share the drive up to Wausau to the 3rd WORS race. Unfortunately, a couple detours and she wasn't able to make it on time. I was looking forward to racing with her, but all things considered, it was nothing short of a mud bath. When I was riding, I could feel the mud drying on my face and I kept thinking about all the cash I was saving by doing this race instead of hanging out in a spa somewhere!
I headed north and got there with sufficient time to get ready and warm up. It felt like my first mountain bike race ever! I haven't had too much time on the mtn bike, so my tech skills are hurting a little. This was the first of the marathon races for the WORS series- so we were to do 40 miles- 4 laps.
There were a couple pretty fast ladies on the line at the start- Don E. announced the "GOOOOOO" and we were off, 15 secs behind the elite males. I stayed in the same position throughout the entire race- I passed one woman and was passed by one on the last lap. The first lap was pretty fast and fun. I was working with Abby S. to share some pulls and keep each other motivated. Unfortunately, 3 men snuck in between us before some single track and the next thing I knew she was gone. As I found after the race-- we were both sad about that!
(photo from www.fattires-n-beer.com, Thanks guys!)
During the second lap, the race became quite difficult- it was pouring and the double track turned into a mud-sponge. I couldn't see anything through my glasses, so I tilted them up and put them at the end of my nose to use them as a mud guard. It was during this lap that the mud began to mess with my shifting- the chain kept sucking up into my frame in my granny and middle rings- so I had to resort to hanging in my big ring for the remaining 2.5 laps. There were times during the race when I was going pretty slow, I think I was just riding instead of racing-- I'll call it mental regrouping! We'll call that entire 3.5 hrs a power workout.
When the race was finished, I ended up 6th of 18. Although a pretty miserable race, It was stellar. I don't know how that works, but I had a blast.
I left Camp Web at about 7 am. The plan was to meet Rachel at an exit and we would share the drive up to Wausau to the 3rd WORS race. Unfortunately, a couple detours and she wasn't able to make it on time. I was looking forward to racing with her, but all things considered, it was nothing short of a mud bath. When I was riding, I could feel the mud drying on my face and I kept thinking about all the cash I was saving by doing this race instead of hanging out in a spa somewhere!
I headed north and got there with sufficient time to get ready and warm up. It felt like my first mountain bike race ever! I haven't had too much time on the mtn bike, so my tech skills are hurting a little. This was the first of the marathon races for the WORS series- so we were to do 40 miles- 4 laps.
There were a couple pretty fast ladies on the line at the start- Don E. announced the "GOOOOOO" and we were off, 15 secs behind the elite males. I stayed in the same position throughout the entire race- I passed one woman and was passed by one on the last lap. The first lap was pretty fast and fun. I was working with Abby S. to share some pulls and keep each other motivated. Unfortunately, 3 men snuck in between us before some single track and the next thing I knew she was gone. As I found after the race-- we were both sad about that!
(photo from www.fattires-n-beer.com, Thanks guys!)
During the second lap, the race became quite difficult- it was pouring and the double track turned into a mud-sponge. I couldn't see anything through my glasses, so I tilted them up and put them at the end of my nose to use them as a mud guard. It was during this lap that the mud began to mess with my shifting- the chain kept sucking up into my frame in my granny and middle rings- so I had to resort to hanging in my big ring for the remaining 2.5 laps. There were times during the race when I was going pretty slow, I think I was just riding instead of racing-- I'll call it mental regrouping! We'll call that entire 3.5 hrs a power workout.
When the race was finished, I ended up 6th of 18. Although a pretty miserable race, It was stellar. I don't know how that works, but I had a blast.
I stopped at Rebecca's on my way home and she insisted that we use her dirty-kit-spray-table to prewash my seriously mud-caked kit. It worked, because my kit is, once again, road worthy. :) She also made me some AWESOME dinner and then I hit the road to the other side of the state.
Looking forward to riding 24-9!
Ciao!
k8
posted by Bovis Fugit at 6:27 AM
1 Comments:
nice write up Kate! I'm glad your jersey came clean and it was fun having you here for dinner. I'm really excited about the 24-9 event now. I better get going on getting a bike to ride!!
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