Friday morning we awoke to clear skies that quickly turned dark as we approached Dubuque. When we stopped for gas there, the weather radio inside the store was blasting about severe thunderstorms that were headed in our direction. We tried to outrun the storm, but didn't get very far before the horizontal rains were hitting us from every direction. After a long 30 minutes of that craziness, we emerged from the mess and eventually turned away from the storm to head north towards Wautoma.
We arrived at Mt. Norris to find sunny skies and race preparations in full swing. We went out for a lap together, then Cam went around for another as I enjoyed my lunch. The course was in near perfect condition - just a few wet spots that were sure to dry out nicely by race time on the following day. As we loaded up our stuff to head further north to our motel in Waupaca, we felt a few rain drops hit. By the time we were 10 minutes away from the course, we were in our second deluge of the day! Cam was about beside himself and almost wanted to just turn around and drive back to Des Moines. Thankfully, we determined that we wouldn't put to waste all the time and gasoline we'd spent getting there; we'd stay and see what Saturday would bring.
Saturday morning was gorgeous! Nothing but blue skies and sunshine - a perfect day! The WORS Cup has a slightly different format than the rest of the WORS series races. On this day, Cam's race would be the first of the day at noon, followed by the Comp race, then my Cat 2 race at 4pm. This was not great for us, since we still needed to drive quite a ways after my race to get back home, but we would make it work. The skies were clear, but the sun was heating things up pretty quickly. I determined that I would have to seek shade for the whole day if I was going to have any energy left to race with later.
I took a few pictures at the start of Cam's race. He had a great start! I was able to photograph him in a couple locations at the start, then I made my way to the Alterra tent on the hill near the end of the lap. As the first of the riders went through the woods a little distance from where I was, I didn't see Cam, but I just figured that he had moved up a couple spots and I'd missed seeing him come past. No more than a minute later, I looked up to see him riding slowly on a different part of the mountain, not on the trail. I could tell he'd pulled the plug on the race, but that's a pretty rare sight, so I headed down to see what was up.
His disappointment was still pretty fresh, so I didn't get any details at the time. But, I could tell that he wasn't hurt (physically) and that was all I really needed to know at that moment. The bike looked okay, too, and he was able to head out for a cool-off ride to sort through the frustration of the situation. While he did that, I watched the rest of the race from a shady locale and tried to stay cool.
When Cam got back, we talked about what happened. He'd taken a bad line, hit a nasty stump in the middle of the trail, took a flier, and skewed the handlebars in such a way that he couldn't get them straightened out without a trip to the Jeep from some tools. He encouraged me not to make the same mistakes in my race!
A couple hours later it was time for me to get ready. On my warm-up, my legs felt terrible. It was almost like I was low on blood sugar, but I knew that was not the case. I think I was having trouble getting excited to rage on the bike because of Cam's situation. I got to the starting line and had a good talk with Kyle Williams, then Robin came over to offer a bit of encouragement and advice. She'd raced really well earlier in the day and had some very helpful tips on how to navigate the trickier (at least for me) rock gardens. I really appreciate her help whenever it is available! Obviously I get a lot of advice from Cam, but having it come from a woman's perspective does make a difference.
There were 17 women at the starting line when Don gave us the, "GOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Per my shaky legs and usual poor start, I brought up the rear of the field. I managed to get myself up a spot or two heading into the singletrack. I was expecting a bunch of climbing, as this was a ski slope, but to my surprise there wasn't as much as I thought. I really don't mind the climbing too much, at least not in the early stages of the race. I followed a woman through most of the singletrack on the first lap. she was taking some pretty decent lines which allowed me to get a better feel on things. Once things opened up, I easily got past her and began working my way up in the field.
By the third and final lap, I was slowing down a little, but thankfully not as much as the rest of the field! The technical sections that got me the first lap didn't stand a chance on laps two and three. It felt good to get my legs under me and power through some of the tougher areas. The heat was also an issue, and for the first time, I felt like I needed all the fluids I had on the bike, plus some. The ice cold water they handed out on the course felt great when poured over my head!
I crossed the finish line fourth place overall and third in my age group. I felt good about my performance, but was still surprised to hear Cam say that he thought it was my best race so far! For the second time in my mountain bike racing career, I got to stand on the WORS podium!
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