We ended up camping friday night and we woke up early Saturday morning to head to Wisp Ski Resort for a full day of racing. Wisp was the definition of a ski resort and ill be honest iv kinda got it bookmarked in my head as a place Id like to visit again before I die. The day was set to begin with dual slolem followed by super D, downhill, and concluding with short track. Yeah, a full day.
(VT and WVU pretty much brought every person they could talk into coming)
We had dual slolem marked in our heads because this was our best chance to place high with Marshall having some good showings so far this year. The course was fun and fast and long. The only complaint I had was that out of the start gate there was two right hand berms leading into a woop and the course came together and was single lane the rest of the way. This obviously led to whoever was leading out of the first turn winning 99% of the time and 95% of the time the person in the inside lane was the one leading. It was however a very fun course that i felt I could race a bit better than the one last week at ASU. I tried to push it as hard as I could in order to qualify a bit better and not have to face the fastest guys right off the bat like last time. I felt like I put down a smooth run and ended up qualifying 13th out of 19 guys. I was pretty happy with this as only the top 16 qualifies to race and that meant i didnt have to race the fastest three guys. However I underestimated how lucky I was because as the brackets came out I saw that Marshall had qualified 4th this time which meant we would face each other in the first round. Great. I told Marshall that I was going to race him clean but i wasnt going to lay down like last week since this was conference champs. So as we lined up I pushed it off the line and we were neck and neck as we came to the first woop and i knew I had a chance and about that time marshall came over on me forcing me off the side of the track and creating a gap i couldnt recoup. I was a bit upset to say the least. I knew i had a chance and he raced dirty with his teamate. I honestly wanted to wreck him out of the first turn on the next run. However I cooled off and realized this was his event and he was going to win at all cost no matter who was in the other lane. I guess I really cant condemn that. So the next run he went on to win with less fireworks and moved on to the next round.
The second round he won easily by a wide margin. As he moved into the final four he was up against the fastest qualifier and it showed. He got the outside lane first and the other rider put a huge gap on him that he never caught back up. The next run he had the inside line so he just had to push it and win by as much as the guy had beat him by the previous lap. As they come out of the first turn and over the woop marshall had the lead but barely. He pushed it hard but never could get a gap and ended up losing the round. He still had to race for third place however. Ill be honest I may not be the fastest guy there but I may be one of the most strategic. I noticed that some of the guys were electing to do one run for the whole thing because time was running short. I had noticed all day that Marshall was absolutely getting crushed when he was on the outside lane and so my mind began to work. I told marshall to get up there and get the inside lane first and talk his opponent into doing a single elimination run. And so he did. The guy was reluctant at first but finally agreed to it. As they came out of the first turn they were neck and neck but marshall somehow got in front. The racer was all over his tail and trying to cut in on him around every turn but never could pull the pass off. it was clear he was faster but luckily we stole maybe one higher spot than we deserved and got Marshall a bronze medal in the process.
Super D was next and Marshall was the only one racing. After dual s we had changed marshalls tires and riding the lift up to the top we could see A class starting their race. We ran over to the start and barely made the race start. It was a lemans start but marshall managed to enter the woods in the top five so i knew he had a good shot at a high finishing spot. I rode down the trail after the girls had started and i had talked to the conference director for about 10 minutes and actually passed one of the C men still trying to make it down the trail. As I got to the bottom I saw marshall working on his bike and he said that his rear wheel had come off about 1/4 of the way down the track and finished just ahead of the guy I had passed coming down the trail by carring the bike the rest of the way.
Neither of us rode downhill but I took the time to ride the short track and it was going to be fun to say the least. I went through the beggining of the super d course which included several woops and table tops and one tough rock garden. There were almost 25 C men at the start so i knew it was going to be hard to score points. I entered the woods about mid pack with a plan in mind. As we hit the rock garden I was already off my bike with it on my shoulder and right on que the feild pilled up and I ran my way into the top ten. I did the same thing every lap and was riding in the top ten until I dropped my chain just like always. I got off and put it back on but about 5 guys got by me. For the rest of the race a racer from william and mary swapped spots with me every lap with him passing me on the climb and me flying by him through the woops. As we were going through the rock garden I heard the bell for the last lap coming up and I knew i had to hold the guys wheel on the climb which I did. I had to pull the pass through the woops and right on schedule he got hung up behind three lapers and I just flew though the woods by all four of them and then rocketed through the field where the finish line was for the last lap. I ran through the rocks again and sat my bike down to hop on and hit the climb with about a 20 second gap on the W&M rider only to see me chain was off once again. As I placed it on once again i saw my opponent go by. i ended up catching his wheel through the woops but was to far behind to pull a pass before the finish line. I really enjoy the little battles you get into with one guy during a race and in this case I had the win only to lose it to mechanical problems.
It was off to bed early Saturday night and as I woke up early sunday morning I noticed first that it was raining and second that I was sick. I went back to sleep hoping that by the time I woke up for good both these problems would disappear. No dice. It was about 45 and raining sunday morning and I was vomiting and everything else. Not the way I had seen the last XC race of the year going. To be honest I dont remember much of the race. Off the start I was going to try to push through the pain and went into the woods in the top ten but within sight of the start my chain came off for the first of nineteen times that day. Yes I kept count. The whole feild passed me and I spent the rest of the day passing people then getting off to fix my chain and watching them go past me. The trail beat me to death because the whole thing was a rock garden. That may be the first and last time I ever try to ride in West Virginia. Marshall was racing his single speed and the way my day was going I half expected him to pass me. I ended up riding with the womens b leader for most of the race just trying to survive. As I rode up to the finish line one of the guys from NC state that i have gotten to know this season rode up beside me racing A class. I looked over at him and clicked up some gears, stood up and started to sprint with him following. the crowd was screaming and although it mattered none it was a bit of excitement to end the race. However as i crossed the line I looked up to see bikes laying right in front of me and as I tried to turn on the loose gravel i hit the deck in front of everyone. Yeah it was one of those days.
Next week Ill try to wrap up the entire season with how we finished overall individually and as a team along with a few thoughts and some pics.
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