Eau Claire

This was my one of my worst WORS race ever, in terms of overall placing, not counting races where I had a mechanical. So far this year I have gotten some of my worst placings. I hope I can reverse the trend.

After over 6 hours of driving I got to Eau Claire a little after midnight. One of these days I have to try getting a good night's sleep before a race, it might help my results!! I don't think I ever get eight hours before a race - although I always intend to. Sometimes I can't fall asleep at all before a race, even if I get to bed early enough.

I didn't really want to come to this race, yet I sorta did. I talked myself into it. When I think of this course the main thing I remember is Liz falling off the ledge in the roller coaster part in the first year. Her bike fell on top of her, and she was tangled in the brush which kept her from falling further down the side of the hill. We stopped to help her get back on the trail. She won't go back to this race after that happened. On the other hand, they do a great job with putting on the race and getting there is pretty easy for how far it is, super fast interstate all the way. Facilities are pretty good. Last year some of us had a great time on the kart track after the races.

My bike brake wasn't back yet from the mishap last weekend, so I had to use a bike I haven't ridden since September 2006, with wider bars, stiffer suspension, a bigger frame, a different shifter on one side that I can't shift with the sore thumb (used the whole hand instead), and so on. I kept fiddling with the seat height up until minutes before the start - higher for the leadout, or lower for the hard stuff where I'll have to get off? I had a hard time adjusting to the bike in the race.

I forgot the backpack part of my camelback so I spent what would have been warmup time trying to borrow one, unsuccessfully. My race bike has two cages but this bike only has one!! So I carried an extra bottle in my jersey. I seldom forget stuff at races, so I don't know what's up this year!

I was counting on the leadout to get me a good position and pass lots of people, but that didn't happen. Not having preridden, I should have scoped out the turn after the start. My gut said to line up on the right but if I wanted to be in the second row I had to go left, which put me in the middle. I wish I had gone right. I got stuck in the middle of the pack behind slow starters and then I got bogged down in the sand that I had no idea was there. The pack took a different line than I expected, again, I should have been better prepared. I watched people pulling away up front. I was pretty much stuck for most of the leadout, until I got around people at the end and passed just a few people. And that was pretty much how the race went! There was alot of stuff I had to get off for, which lost time, people passed me, and there was stuff that had me braking more than I should have, which lost more time! I found my rear wheel skidding alot on the downhills, and I wasn't sure if it was me grabbing the brakes too much on the unfamiliar bike, or if it was the super dusty, loose conditions. That usually doesn't happen as much with my brakes on my race bike. The tires have the same tread pattern on both bikes, though the other ones are regular tires and these are tubeless.

Unlike most of you other WORS bloggers, I do best on a course with open spaces where I can catch people after they pass me in the singletrack. Or at least I used to when I was in better shape! This year I am just getting passed, period. There wasn't quite enough open stuff for me to make up for the stuff I couldn't ride. Not that I would have gained that many places. But, I am glad to hear that lots of people loved the course. Makes it worth the drive for most people.

That's all for now, it's late. Tomorrow I have a million things to do, including getting ready for Blue Mound. I hope my brake comes in tomorrow - although they are not sure they'll have time to put it on before closing time if it does. Anybody have any spare body armor for bouncing off rocks?