The Lake Island Induction was located in Brighton, Mi. This
race was a USA Cycling sanctioned event that was part of a race series put on
by Tailwind Racing. For most racers there this race was one of the first races
of the season and a good way to shake off the winter rust. For me this race was
a way to qualify for the USA Cycling Cross Country Mountain Bike Nationals in
July. I knew based off of last years results that qualifying would not be that
difficult because of the number of racers in the 19-24 Cat 1 class. All I had
to do was place in the top 15 in my class at any of the Tailwind races. So I
chose to go to their second series race and try and get qualifying out of the
way as fast as possible because the travel to this part of the state is a bit
much for such little races.
After
Mud Sweat and Beers I traveled back to Oceana County (hometown area) and spent
a week riding and getting stuff sorted out for the upcoming races. I spent a
few rides at Owasippe testing both mountain bikes and seeing what I liked most
and getting some time in the woods since the weather in the Soo has not made
the trails rideable yet. I took the time
at home to also relax and catch up on some rest that I had lost during the last
month of the semester.
Thankfully
I have awesome parents who support whatever I choose to pursue. So the family
and I took off on a Friday afternoon and made the 3 hour drive to Brighton. We
stayed in a hotel and just relaxed
The
morning of the race I was not feeling like that energetic. I didn’t sleep very
well the night before and was a tad droggy. Got a decent breakfast then packed
up the vehicles (including all 3 bikes I brought with me that I put in the
hotel room). We made the 20 minute trip to the State Park and started getting
in the grove of things. I checked in at sign up and then proceeded on my basic
routine of getting things ready.
This
course was a 2 lap race with each lap being about 13.5 miles long. My class was
a few waves back. From the looks of the start area there was about 12 or so
guys in the class so if I finished I qualified but that’s not how I do things.
I wanted to race hard and get a good result. The course had a slight uphill
start before making its way into a small roller coaster section that was all
two-track but the fast line was only 1 bike wide. Everyone took off sprinting,
trying to get into a good position before making its way into the
single track. Since I suck at sprinting I
got pushed to the back. The opening miles were lighting fast and the pace
through the single track was awesome. Racing with guys that all had skills on a
bike and could push hard was so much fun. There was some passing when the
single track opened up. I held my zone for most of the first lap. Once we
started catching the single speed racers in front of the pack, they stared to
slow us down but the single track at this point was tight. After a few miles of
following this guy, a rider from behind me yelled at him to move over. Once we
got around him the pace picked back up. I was starting to feel the intensity of
the pace about 3/4th through the first lap and made a bad line
choice and got passed. I soon feel off the pack and had to take some time to
find my second wind. My first lap was about where I wanted it to be so I just
tried to hold on to a solid pace and try to regain some speed toward the middle
of the second lap. After getting passed by a group of racers from a wave behind
me I tried to stay with them and just hooked onto their wheels and found a new
pace. After making some passes and a few
hard surges I found myself with a good group of riders and we all worked
together to push the wind and make it to the finish. I crossed the line in
1:42:08. The results came in and I was placed 5th. It was a better
result that what I thought but still not fully satisfied.
With it
being so early in the season and feeling this strong is a great feeling because
I know how much I can gain throughout a season. By this time last year I was
just slowly starting to ride outside and now in 2014 I have 3 races done and
getting ready for a 4th race before I had only one done last
season. So now that I was qualified for
nationals all I had to do was wait for the results to be posted on the USA
Cycling page and for my name to be on the Qualified Riders list. The results
and everything else was posted a few days later. So now I’m getting ready for a
race that has been on my bucket list for the past few years and once that is
out of the way I can put my focus on getting ready for nationals.
Thanks to those who help me with this great sport:
Mom and Dad
Breakaway Bicycles of Muskegon
Hammer Nutrition
Crankbrothers
Spy Optics
Schwalbe Tires
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