Eau Claire WORS - Photos from the Rock Garden Gauntlet aka Jekyll and Hyde

Mark LaLonde (Planet Bike), above, Jesse LaLonde (Gary Fisher), background left, and below pic as well, and Jason Sager (Jamis) battled it out for most of the elite race. They were always close together when they came through. Yes, the Jason Sager of "Free Jason Sager" fame, who went on to win. Mark got second and Jesse got third, I believe. Mark kept things interesting on some laps when he chose to hop off and run the hill cyclocross style. I'm pretty sure he was able to pass riders on the hill with this method. It was impressive to watch. The speed with which all three came through the rock garden was impressive, period. It was almost as if the rock garden wasn't there...

Jesse flying through the rock garden.

Up the hill!

This was Amelia's last WORS race before she and Tom (see pic below) move to Utah, where she'll be going to grad school. I wish Amelia and Tom good luck in their new life! Hopefully they'll make it back to the Midwest often!









Rocks, rocks, and more rocks! This area was the downfall of many!

By the time you read this most of the pics will be up on Flickr. The rest should be up in the next day or two.

The most interesting set is from the Rock Garden shortly before the finish. Even if you don't ride the dirt, you should check these out for an appreciation of how much coordination is involved in riding on a gauntlet of sharp and pointy rocks.

I had so much fun sitting on a log and watching the chaos and mayhem!! I was spellbound, I didn't want to leave. There was some amazing bike handling going on in that gulley! Truly, some of you were dancing on the pedals to get through that looooong rock garden, up the rocky hill, and to the left. Just making it up the hill was an accomplishment, even if you didn't make the turn.... even making it to the hill was good, in my book. It seemed like the hill was where the most people bailed or got tangled up with another rider, either just after the bottom or else the top where you had to make the turn.

The other set is of the Sport Start, the Elite/Comp start, some venue shots for the photo contest, and the Citizen Awards. Some of them are in the Photostream but not in the set yet.

I'm going to put up some of my faves here, check back later!