Mark, Scott, and I rolled into the Ocoee Whitewater Center at about 5:30 AM EST and just chilled in the truck instead of being chilled by the 42 degree outside temp. After listening to the radio and maybe even taking a little nap, we rolled out of the truck and started to get things put together. I jumped on the bike around 6:40 and rolled up to the line, went about a half mile up the start hill then the call up started. After losing the leg warmers and coat, the countdown started. The gun went off quickly and most of us were caught not paying attention and not even clipped in! I rolled out sitting not further back than the top 5 and at the top of the climb found myself sitting behind Christian in 2nd place. After the slight downhill and the loss of a couple spots I ended up hitting the first section of single track sitting in 5th position. We were riding really chill and felt nice to finally ride some fun dirt. I was riding right behind Michael Simonson so it was good to catch up a bit! Nice to see how well he is riding!
The positions stayed the same while we cruised the fun single track this area had to offer, until we hit the rooted single track near the river where we piled up last year. I picked the upper line while everyone else went to the bottom and I cruised right through and to the front of the race with little effort due to the efficiency of the Specialized Epic! I opened a small gap and it gave me time to peel off my arm warmers before we headed out for the remaining 6 hrs of fun.
By this time we had a group of 8 riders away and I lead through the rest of the single track. The Epic was rocking it and made the single track seem effortless. Love the new bike if you have not picked up on that yet! We then came out to the gravel road and we chilled a bit. The chill pace continued until Simonson gave a go on one of the flats. After Jeff chased him back down with the rest in tow, we rolled easily and chatted a bit. Then right before aid 2, the games began. I was unable to match the power of the others and fell off right before aid 2 in 6th place to settle into a pace I could manage. Sucked, cause it meant I was looking at the next 70 miles riding by myself! Which is not good, cause I like to talk while racing!
After stopping at Aid 2 I continued to climb at my pace and then rocketed down the other side at the 50 mile mark. Looking at my data, I hit this point almost 20 minutes faster than 2010, so I knew they were flying ahead of me. I rallied the down hill with the voice of Mike P ringing in my ear, "Don't know why I work on brakes, really don't believe in them on bikes!"
I then hit aid #4 and stopped to grab my food. By now I was feeling pretty good and was rolling well down the flat road section. Then right before hitting the climb, before the short and long course comes together, I saw Tom Turner. I went by him, asked if he needed anything, then continued on. I kept my pace and thought I was in the clear for the 5th spot on the podium after stopping at aid 5 for my last 2 bottles.
I took it pretty easy on the downhill going into the last section of single track due to the fresh rock that was so deep, it felt like riding on sand. After making it down this and entering the single track, I had a sigh of relief thinking I was in the clear! That is when I hit a root and noticed I had a flat tire! Not sure if it really counts as a flat or not? I always debate if it counts as a flat if you did not have to put a tube in it? So I will call it a loss of air! I stopped, grabbed my CO2, and filled the tire. As I was about to get back on the bike a 100 mile rider passed me!! Determined not to lose that last podium spot, I put the hammer down! I went by him and never looked back. I hammered through the last single track section and ended up finishing in 5th spot with a 3 minute buffer!
I was very happy to finish on the podium and feel like I showed that last year was not a fluke! Nice work to the rest of the guys on the podium, it was great riding with them and look forward to the next one in Arkansas!
Also Nice work to the rest of the Adventure 212/Specialized team for the WORS opener. I will let one of the girls write that post and give their perspective!
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