Someone asked me about 6 months ago if I was living the dream yet... I said no. Now I can actually say that I am. In a brief summary of what has happened is since then I quit my day job and started my own company doing freelance graphic design and everything has been going great. By doing this it has given me the opportunity to make my own hours that allows me to ride my bike during the day.
I applied for my PRO license this winter and to my surprise I got it! This gave me big motivation to train hard over the winter months of Wisconsin on my Pugsley or my indoor trainer. I got out for a few Fat Bike races and had a blast doing it.
This brings me to the MTB season. In years past I hardly ever rode single track because all of the trails were just to far away and I didn't have time with work and the my freelancing at the same time to make it anywhere to ride. This year has been different, I am traveling more just to work on my technical skills and am having a blast on my bike.
WORS #1 - I had a lot of anticipation to see where I fit in with everyone else's fitness at this race but only got to ride for about 5 mins because I broke my chain right away and had to walk back. I did learn something in this race, always be prepared for mechanicals. I will always have a multi-tool, quick link and a CO2 incase of a flat.
My second and most recent race of the year was the Rasta Rally held in Rhinelander Wisconsin. If I have a home course, this would be it. The course is a 24 mile, 2 lap race with a lot of really cool technical single track with some rocky descents and steep climbs. The start is a few miles of open gravel roads. I ended up being up front I pulled the field to the first climb of the race where Chris Periso climbed by me and shot into the first section of single track. I was sitting in 3rd at this point. Chris lead for a few more sections of single track but the pulled over to let us lead. Im not sure what the guys name was that was in 2nd place but he started to hammer and we got a small gap on the group. I decided that I would take a pull so at the next opening I got up front and we headed into some more single track. I looked back an no one was there.... wow, I was pretty surprised that I had gapped him and had this lead so early in the race. Now I just had to keep it. I rode the rest of the race slightly gaining time on the rest of the field. About half way through the last lap I noticed that my tire was really low. It was rolling over in the corners if I went into them to fast. My fingers were crossed that it would just hold up till the finish line. I had to take it a little easier but I managed to hold the lead and got the Win!
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