A couple of weeks ago I had a chance to race at one of my favorite area trails. New to the WORS lineup this year was the Battle of CamRock at the CamRock 3 trails system nestled between Cambridge and Rockdale (hence CamRock). These trails are twisty with fun technical sections peppered in. This race turned out to be another good test of the Airborne Goblin.
One of my main concerns in making the switch to racing a 29er was it's ability to handle tight singletrack. It's taken a while to get good at it but at this point in my evolution as a rider I think I have the hang of it. I can now navigate just about anything tight and technical equally as fast on my 29er as I can on my 26 inch bikes and I can make the Goblin go really fast every everywhere else.
The race course layout had two good sized climbs right from the word go. After the two climbs there was about a mile of doubletrack before entering the singletrack which seemed to be about the perfect amount to get us somewhat sorted.
This was a little bit longer race than the races leading up to it. Now I've found that there are times in the race where it's just you and pain of pushing the pedals. It's in these times that I have read that pro's develop a strategy for dealing with this mental fatigue. What I've started to do to get over this mental obstacle is to think about how fortunate I am to on my bike at that time riding that particular trail. I mean, there are some people who cannot ride a bike and there will be a day when I can no longer ride a bike (at least not like I do now). So even though I am in physical pain, I'm learning to embrace the time on the bike and it's working great so far.
Having lost my call up from the last race, I only had a mediocre start somewhere in the top 3rd of the pack. So for the next 3 laps I had a blast catching and passing riders while working my way up to a 5th place finish in my age group.
A few thanks have to be issued for this race. Given that this was a little bit longer race and how hot it was, it was important to have some support with people handing me water/sports drink during the race. I want to thank Jeremy Drake of team Nord Lock/Safe Wheels for volunteering to help me out on that.
CORP (Capital Off Road Pathfinder) for building such an awesome trail system and putting on such a great race. As trail builders, these guys get it. The trail incorporates free ride features into the trail and makes excellent use of the available terrain to maximize the fun. From the "Rip and Ride" downhill section that makes use of a draw that swoops you from wall to wall on the natural berm to technically challenging climbs and descents of "Sidewinder," it's just and amazing ride.
And of course, thanks to Airborne for allowing me to push beyond my comfort zone and continually expand my riding experience. This makes 3 straight WORS podium finishes. Let's keep this momentum rolling :)
On the video front the new Goblin video just dropped.
I also just finished a video for Wheel and Sprocket - Delafield.
And lastly, here is a fun little piece from this weekend's race in Green Bay, WI. It features Pro Mountain Biker Brian Matter.
Brian Matter, Steelers Fan from Team WORS on Vimeo.
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