Wausau Report

I got a nice call up, took dead center on the line. Usually I don't like to be here cause if ya don't hammer it for the lead out the pack comes around ya. I didn't really think about it and had no plan beside watch where Jesse, Marko, and this guy go and follow. At GOOOO!, I ended up doing this


and goats got a video of the first corner with a crash on the right if ya watch for it.

Usually I am scared of the lead out but I found myself there and just decided to ride within a comfortable pace till someone decides to come around me. Eppen was first on the first little climb, followed by the expected peeps, Phillips, Lalonde bro's, B-Matter, Tristan, Ben Moore, Pearsio (spelling?). Made sure I remained top ten going into the first climb and just hung onto that train. We had a gap by the top of the second climb and I just recovered as much as I could in the single track, Pearsio called out the 1st of many flats and pulled over. The group rode steady till we hit the back end of the 1st lap. Tristan and Moore had some trouble in the single track I think, but I was on the back so I couldn't really tell. But I think Jesse knew there was a gap from some crashing cause I saw him spinning like 1 million RPM's on the front on the flats between single track. Eppen and Marko made the break, rest of us chased. We kept them in sight till Phillips flatted and the train was broken up. I think Moore was doing most the pulling to close the gap cause he went from the front to popped off the back in a matter of seconds. So Matter, Tristan and I rode the next lap and a half together.

I tried taking pulls when I could, mostly in the climbs, they were definitely pulling me around on the flats. We each would come out front around the same places each lap, I would just ride my pace and try not to go over board, they never came around me till I would move over, so I guess it was enough.
Then in the first downhill rocky section of lap three I saw and heard all types of stans and air flying out in front of me and, both of them flatted, and there goes my power train. Here's a pic of solo riding lap 3.

I even said "dang it"! and I was thinking maybe I can hold off the chasers solo with all the wide open sections. I did keep them at bay for a lap and then at that same section they flatted I saw a group of four coming right before the long rocky climb. Looking back now, I should not have sat up, but I thought they would be much fresher then I was working together and I could rest a bit, latch on and attack at the end of the lap.
I was wrong, they came on slower then anticipated, I held the lead soft pedaling into the climb and even had a gap to where I could not see anyone when we left the rocky single track climb. You can see part of the chase at the end of this video. at about 4:00.

Once they latched back on about half way through the lap, I found myself with Paul, Bender, and somebody from Colorado i have never met before. They left me out front till I finally pulled over to let someone else pull and moved to the back on a slight uphill, and as soon as I did Paul put the hammer down. I was expecting Bender, who was in front of me to respond, but i think he had wasted all his power catching back up after getting caught up in that crash at the start. It was a moment of truth and I decided to settle for a battle with Bender instead of making it hurt to latch back on. After a sip of water and sitting on for a min I attacked going into some of the last sections of single track and was able to hold Bender off and found myself within sight of Paul and Colorado dude, but too little too late.

Coming into the finish

Ended sixth, best WORS finish ever!

I am pretty excited with this result, especially since I am jsut starting to get into my intensity workouts. I hope to see even more improvement as I get closer to peak. :)

Thanks to all our sponsors for making this possible, Dad/Mr Tree for all the support( LOVE YA, could not do this without ya!), Bicycle Doctor for an awesome L.B.S., 1st Endurance for the best Products EVER!, F.A.S.T. for helping me with my training program, and Grandpa (Brian Steinke) for the best coaching advice and mentoring a Grandson could have.

Lindsay had a Great race and said she felt really strong. She moved her brakes and shifters in a bit before the race and said she was able to ride the technical stuff faster then ever before with her hands closer together. I think her words were "Oh i can balance on a bike and not feel out of control". Or something like that LOL.
Here is a great pic of her start

And a nice smiler

Ninth overall and 5th in age group, pretty good considering like 3 out of state pros were ahead of her. I think she had a personal best amongst the usual contenders.

I couldn't find any pics of kyle, but you can see his crash in this VIDEO where he ummmmm, knocks the family jewels and in his words "loses all his adrenaline" along with his second place and drops back a few. He is around 2:40 and you can see Lindsay at around 6:45.

LONG POST......

Thanks for reading if ya made it this far :)