The Wilds

Saturday I got the call from Bob Myers asking if Michelle & I would make the OMBC race at "The Wilds". Well I explained to Bob my concern with the weather and would have preferred to skip out on the race if the raining continued. Never the less he convinced us to go so Sunday morning we were loaded and on the road. Arriving at the venue we realized that it was going to be extremely muddy. The race director (Ryan ODell) assured us of this because most of the course would be run over new trails. I pulled out the Superfly and Michelle had her trusty Top Fuel 69er.

Bob rolled in a few minutes after and grabbed the cameras and water bottles so he could pass them off to us on course while getting all the dirty pictures he could. Fellow Trek Family Team mate Steve Twining was on deck today and it was a great pleasure getting to race with him. In case you don't know Steve take my word, he's one fast rider and a pretty good egg if you get what I'm saying. A family man holding down the full time employment and family duties all while tearing it up on the two wheels. I'm really glad to see him wearing the Trek banner (although today he has on the womens jersey-proudly borrowed from Michelle) and publicly welcome him to the family.

I rolled onto the starting line and while waiting for the word to go started to feel a chill as the sun ducked in and out of the cloud cover. They were starting the Vet class with the others so today I would get to run with the young guys right from the start. Gooooo and we were off!

Being a little too relaxed I managed to get shuffled back a little further than I wanted on the fire road start but before hitting the single track I had made my move into 5th or 4th. Things were very slick and the guy in front of me was having a difficult time staying upright and getting traction. I on the other hand wrapped the Superfly with a pair of Bontrager ACX tires and choose to power the big ring which helped me maintain traction. Sure the larger ring was going to rob me of some energy but it helped by keeping me from overpowering the tires traction and causing slipping. Sounds stupid but a lot of cars have this exact feature built into them. By going to a higher gear you prevent the gearing from producing to much torque which would makes it easier for the tires to break loose. Anyway I would like to say that was my reason for never shifting out of the 44T but its probably more because I'm not intelligent enough to shift. For some reason I still have the single speed mentality, never the less it did work in these conditions.

There were several top contenders here and I made a few moves passed some riders in the first 5 or 6  miles before settling into a pace. Before the 8 mile mark I had closed the gap between myself and two riders in front of me. One rider was Steve whom I badgered & teased a bit trying to lite a little fire under his behind. I had hopes that he would chase me as I passed so we could work together on the 2 other riders out in front. Unfortunately the mud was giving him trouble and his legs weren't as fresh as mine so Steve declined to pursue in favor of running his own pace. All was good with that. I did however catch the next rider up within 5 mins of passing the other two guys but I was unable to stay on his wheel. We played cat & mouse for miles before he finally dropped me on the start of the second 1/2 lap.

At this point I scaled back with more concern for staying upright and riding within my limits. Somewhere along the way I hit some rough sections and managed to knock my saddle loose which caused it to tilt backwards. This was uncomfortable so I stopped briefly to try forcing it back but was unable so I continued with the out of adjustment saddle and finished up with a top podium spot for the Vet class and a 3rd place overall. One of my best Vet competitors, Chris Skinner (Multi-year OMBC Champ) had dropped out with a punctured tire which was unfortunate because he is an extremely strong rider who comes on stronger as the races progress. I look forward to our future races together. I really respect this guy and enjoy lining up with at the start.

All in all mother nature help me steal the victory. It amazing how trail conditions and weather can determine the outcome of a race. In Sundays race someone like myself, who rode a little on the conservative side and used more finesse and skill than pure muscle power to stay upright, was able to overtake several faster riders by riding a little smarter. Had the trail been drier the story would be told much differently than this.

Thanks to the Trek of Pittsburgh, Heart Center, Deans, Boone Ti, Classic Ink, Bontrager, Fisher SuperFly 29er which performed like a well oiled machined.

Also a big thanks to my good friend Bob Myers, Fisher Bikes & TO

stork

Comments

[Uncle Ron]

Congrats Travis! Racing here in VA has been pretty dry thus far. That mud looks like WV!

[C. Crippen]

What a race! Coated the bike with wd-40 before i started to keep the mud off, so much for that working. Never push my bike up so many hills before in my life. I deff. made the wrong tire choice. Hope to see ya soon again Trav.