Prelude:
Weight: 22.1lbs
Gear: 36:19/54.9inches/180mm crank arms
Tires: Bontrager
XR 1 Team Issue 1.9
Pressure: 22 rear/26 front
My Iola race history:
02: 1st Sport
03: DNF Elite
04: 4th "
05: 5th "
06: N/R
07: 3rd/2nd
08: N/R
09: 2nd
With a large crowd on and off the course the dogs were let loose. Goooooooooo! An Adrenalin filled crew shot past as we scaled the first incline. With everyone looking to flex their guns through the bowl I roosted on pace. It wasn't long before the hot lap champs filtered off and the strong hold formed. We were short a couple as B.
MATTER,
TRISTAN, and
PHILLIPS played hooky. Regardless the top 5 were wittled down by lap 1 as I took my first pull. I was tired which resulted in a couple short efforts before resorting back to rank.
NATHAN took a solid pull before popping off the back which left us three deep with
TJ chasing.
By lap three we started lapping riders or was it lap two? It gets a little hairy at this point. The normal cat and mouse shenanigans begins as we try to lose each other in between lapped traffic and the pain cave.
As the screws turned in the final miles of lap four we lost Eppen. It appeared that we were getting faster lap by lap according to sideline watches and shouts. I was feeling it... early season fatigue as
MARKO appeared to be effortless through every portion of the course.
As our final lap came to a close I trailed by half a wheel. The openings were full bore as we hit the final stretch of single track before the finish. The short spurt before the line wasn't enough to get that bugger as I finished .2 down in second place. I had a moment of displacement as I turned and congratulated him before realizing how proud I was. Here's to another year of beating the piss out of each other.
Epilogue:
I leave you with with an e-mail I received from Eppen the day after the race who by the way has never won a
WORS race.
Jesse,
Some history since you keep kicking my ass.
11 years of racing WORS
36 races all in the top 10
31 in the top 5
5- fifth places
11- fourth places
7- third places
8- second places!
Look out! I'm coming for that top podium spot! Tell Mark I'm coming for him!