Bad Karma
"In south east Asia we'd call something like this bad karma"- Mr Rumsfield 
Just like 2 years ago when I went down at this race, Sam got shafted this time on the start and went down hard. He made it about 3/4 of a mile further than me however. I never saw him go down which was good because it looked nasty from what I hear. I guess he got sandwiched between two guys and then hit the deck going full speed down a gravel straight away. The bodily damage- His knee and calf took the brunt of the fall. It looked exactly what I had when I went down at MT Kato. Picture someone taking a cheese grater to the skin just under the kneecap. His calf was swollen too along with some gravel rash on the forearm. Josh Shwantes ran him over so his back was sore too. I'm shure he got up real slow this morning. Yesterday John Thompson was kind enough to give us some road rash supplies until we can find our own. The bike damage- The Stans rim is toast. He already ordered a new rim and Dave Meyers is going to lace it up for him. There are some scrapes on the gripshift,brake lever,lower fork and calipers. I didn't see any frame damage. Like I told my grandma, He'll live to fight another day. I told him to take it easy this week and try to be ready for Mt Kato. After that we have 3 weeks off before we go to France, plenty of time to recover.
Ok now my story. Brad Johnson (Scott Kylander-Johnsons brother)rode his bike to my house in the morning and after we had breakfast at Deny's we headed to the race. (As a side note click on Charlie Farrow's or Sara Kylander-Johnsons blog to the right for a crazy story about what Brad did after the Dirt Spanker last week). I lined up next to TJ Woodruff at the start on the OUTSIDE this time. Even though we had a call up we were 3rd row. The start was the craziest start ever. It was so dusty I could only see the guy in front of me. I was trying to hold my breath while going as fast and as hard as I could. It was like a 2 mile all out flat start. And with 5 times as many guys as a MN expert race guys get boxed in all over the place. After dealing with thick dust for the first 3/4 mile I spotted TJ making a move on the right side and I followed his wheel. It was perfect, everyone was on the left side of the gravel road and the wind was blowing the dust to the left. We had a clear path out of the dust right up to the top 10 guys or so.(This is where Sam saw me moving up and wanted to jump on my wheel but was taken out before he could move). Right before we hit the first singletrack section Marko Lalande went down in front of me and Scott K-J, forcing us to stop and a half dozen guys got around us. That really messed things up as I was not going as fast as I wanted to through the singletrack. I also lost alot of time on a spot where if you weren't the first 10 guys through everyone behind you had to dismount and wait to get through. The first lap was tough as I found myself surging hard on the doubletrack and trying to collect myself through the fast technical singletrack. At the end of lap 1 I took a bottle from my holder (at like 15 mph :) had it in my hand but then dropped it trying to put in my bottle cage, CRAP! I knew I was going to need it so I quickly turned around and picked it up. The chase was on as I had to catch back up to the group of three that I was with. I caught them a few miles in on the gravel road that Sam crashed on. I don't remember too much about the 2nd lap but we all stuck together. Going into the third lap Sam was unexpectingly there to hand bottles to me. Chris Peariso caught up to us and led the group going into the singletrack after the long gravel road yet again. He was railing it and we gapped a couple of the riders from the group. It was now Chris,I and Seth Lenss. We caught Eric Thompson who was having a stellar race untill he hit a tree and slowed to our group. I took over at the front and continued to hammer the flats and rail the singletrack. I must say that the Giant Anthem is so smooth with the pro-pedal switch off. Its a night and day difference on how much control I can have through the technical singletrack. Anyway, I was surprised when I saw Brian Matter riding slow ahead of me. I made a small gap on everyone but Seth Lenss bridged back up and took the lead going into some singletrack. A little ways in we were flying through the singletrack when Seths front wheel washed out. It was the weirdest image as I see his bike and body turn sideways through the air and travel down the trail through the trees untill he finally hit the ground in a cloud of dust. "Are you all right?", "I guess" he says. From here on I was running on adrenaline as I could see a big chase group not far behind and I was all alone. At the start of the final lap I caught Chris Fisher and told him to jump on my wheel. He wanted to help out but he couldn't. I kept telling myself to stay alert and ride the singletrack clean and hammer on the flats. It was tough being alone on that gravel road going into a head wind with a group 30 seconds behind. I was thinking WWDD (What Would Doug Do). I know what he would do, put your hands in the drops of the riser bar,get as low as you can, put it in the 44-11, and roll that big dog. Half way into the lap I saw Jesrin ahead of me. Sweet another carrot for me. Boy did I have him running hard. He kept looking back and I kept getting closer. I've never went so fast through singletrack (except when I was being chased by a dog at Lebennon) in my life. As you can see in the photo I was so close to catching him. If we had just a little more road I think I could've got him. I was surprised that I was only a little over a minuite behind Paul and TJ at the finish. Yeah, my legs were feeling pretty good on those flats and I think those big breakfasts help in keeping my energy level sustained instead of having peaks and valleys throught the race. Thanks for reading-EO.
Welcome to Wisconsin where everyones a winner
Just like 2 years ago when I went down at this race, Sam got shafted this time on the start and went down hard. He made it about 3/4 of a mile further than me however. I never saw him go down which was good because it looked nasty from what I hear. I guess he got sandwiched between two guys and then hit the deck going full speed down a gravel straight away. The bodily damage- His knee and calf took the brunt of the fall. It looked exactly what I had when I went down at MT Kato. Picture someone taking a cheese grater to the skin just under the kneecap. His calf was swollen too along with some gravel rash on the forearm. Josh Shwantes ran him over so his back was sore too. I'm shure he got up real slow this morning. Yesterday John Thompson was kind enough to give us some road rash supplies until we can find our own. The bike damage- The Stans rim is toast. He already ordered a new rim and Dave Meyers is going to lace it up for him. There are some scrapes on the gripshift,brake lever,lower fork and calipers. I didn't see any frame damage. Like I told my grandma, He'll live to fight another day. I told him to take it easy this week and try to be ready for Mt Kato. After that we have 3 weeks off before we go to France, plenty of time to recover.
Ok now my story. Brad Johnson (Scott Kylander-Johnsons brother)rode his bike to my house in the morning and after we had breakfast at Deny's we headed to the race. (As a side note click on Charlie Farrow's or Sara Kylander-Johnsons blog to the right for a crazy story about what Brad did after the Dirt Spanker last week). I lined up next to TJ Woodruff at the start on the OUTSIDE this time. Even though we had a call up we were 3rd row. The start was the craziest start ever. It was so dusty I could only see the guy in front of me. I was trying to hold my breath while going as fast and as hard as I could. It was like a 2 mile all out flat start. And with 5 times as many guys as a MN expert race guys get boxed in all over the place. After dealing with thick dust for the first 3/4 mile I spotted TJ making a move on the right side and I followed his wheel. It was perfect, everyone was on the left side of the gravel road and the wind was blowing the dust to the left. We had a clear path out of the dust right up to the top 10 guys or so.(This is where Sam saw me moving up and wanted to jump on my wheel but was taken out before he could move). Right before we hit the first singletrack section Marko Lalande went down in front of me and Scott K-J, forcing us to stop and a half dozen guys got around us. That really messed things up as I was not going as fast as I wanted to through the singletrack. I also lost alot of time on a spot where if you weren't the first 10 guys through everyone behind you had to dismount and wait to get through. The first lap was tough as I found myself surging hard on the doubletrack and trying to collect myself through the fast technical singletrack. At the end of lap 1 I took a bottle from my holder (at like 15 mph :) had it in my hand but then dropped it trying to put in my bottle cage, CRAP! I knew I was going to need it so I quickly turned around and picked it up. The chase was on as I had to catch back up to the group of three that I was with. I caught them a few miles in on the gravel road that Sam crashed on. I don't remember too much about the 2nd lap but we all stuck together. Going into the third lap Sam was unexpectingly there to hand bottles to me. Chris Peariso caught up to us and led the group going into the singletrack after the long gravel road yet again. He was railing it and we gapped a couple of the riders from the group. It was now Chris,I and Seth Lenss. We caught Eric Thompson who was having a stellar race untill he hit a tree and slowed to our group. I took over at the front and continued to hammer the flats and rail the singletrack. I must say that the Giant Anthem is so smooth with the pro-pedal switch off. Its a night and day difference on how much control I can have through the technical singletrack. Anyway, I was surprised when I saw Brian Matter riding slow ahead of me. I made a small gap on everyone but Seth Lenss bridged back up and took the lead going into some singletrack. A little ways in we were flying through the singletrack when Seths front wheel washed out. It was the weirdest image as I see his bike and body turn sideways through the air and travel down the trail through the trees untill he finally hit the ground in a cloud of dust. "Are you all right?", "I guess" he says. From here on I was running on adrenaline as I could see a big chase group not far behind and I was all alone. At the start of the final lap I caught Chris Fisher and told him to jump on my wheel. He wanted to help out but he couldn't. I kept telling myself to stay alert and ride the singletrack clean and hammer on the flats. It was tough being alone on that gravel road going into a head wind with a group 30 seconds behind. I was thinking WWDD (What Would Doug Do). I know what he would do, put your hands in the drops of the riser bar,get as low as you can, put it in the 44-11, and roll that big dog. Half way into the lap I saw Jesrin ahead of me. Sweet another carrot for me. Boy did I have him running hard. He kept looking back and I kept getting closer. I've never went so fast through singletrack (except when I was being chased by a dog at Lebennon) in my life. As you can see in the photo I was so close to catching him. If we had just a little more road I think I could've got him. I was surprised that I was only a little over a minuite behind Paul and TJ at the finish. Yeah, my legs were feeling pretty good on those flats and I think those big breakfasts help in keeping my energy level sustained instead of having peaks and valleys throught the race. Thanks for reading-EO.
Welcome to Wisconsin where everyones a winner
posted by Eric O. at 7:28 AM
3 Comments:
Great race and recap E O. Way to wave the flag nicely for the MN side. Hope Sam comes through okay. See you at Kato.
I think I handed you one of my "secret" water bottles on the 3rd lap that gave you that last lap kick..I knew you were going to do good that race.Total power course.Way to go Bro!
Great Job Eric...You guyz are coming of age, no doubt about it...Charlie
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