WORS Race #7 (Alterra Coffee Bean Classic)

Race #7 lead us to Franklin, WI which is a suburb of Milwaukee that is by General Mitchell International Airport. We arrived at the hotel Saturday afternoon and unloaded our stuff and got changed to go check out the course. Collin heard the words "ski hill" and was worried it would all be uphill again. We got on our bikes and headed out to do a lap of the Juniors course. The start was 2/3 of the way to the bottom of the ski hill so it was an uphill climb start to spread everyone out with a long lead out around the old landfill. There was a lot of tight single track that wouldn't allow for any passing. We also came to a long uphill climb that I thought would be where he got off and walked his bike but he got it in the lowest gear and rode all the way up to the spot where there was a really steep rise in the road. I was impressed. I had actually gotten off my bike part way up to wait for him and I had to move out of the way as he rode past. He was determined because the thistles on the left were about 6+ feet tall and on the right was about a 20 drop off into the woods. The rest of the lap was nothing out of the ordinary and they let the juniors finish on top of the ski hill instead of making them go down to the bottom and ride up to the finish like us.

We headed back to the hotel for some swimming while Carrie took a trip to Burlington Coat Factory. I got to sit, relax and talk with a couple other racers in the hot tub while Collin swam. Carrie showed up with her purchases and showed them to me. Off to the room for some sleep. We need to get to all the races a little earlier now that Collin's races are at 9:30.

I set up the canopy where Carrie thought it would be best for taking pictures and then went over by the start to tell Collin to go fast and try to pass as many people as he could. I hopped on my bike then with the camera back pack and headed into the woods to find a good spot. A low hanging tree with caution tape seemed like the perfect place.



The usual little animals that win all the time were the first ones through. I took pictures of all of them just getting some practice shooting action pictures. Then Collin showed up.





I cheered him on and told him to pick the pace up a bit because he had kids in his age group ahead of him. On his was back he was riding with one of them chatting.






He's still learning to be competitive when you are racing and be friends when you aren't racing.

My race started with me near the back of the group and not being able to see the two guys that got tangled up and went down 20 yds. from the start and as the pack split to go around I barely missed it. The lead out was fast and we all got to the single track in a big pack and went through like a train with occasional stops when people were yelling out "rider down!" because there is no place to go or get around them. There were a couple of long straights to allow for passing. The switchback climb up the ski hill is probably the longest hardest climb we have to do in the series. It always seems like it goes on forever.




Once you go over the top there is a long road that leads out to some more single track and when you come back in you get to go down the ski hill and it is ROUGH. There were plenty of crashes in the Citizen and First Timer classes.



Then up the hill and one more lap. Gary passed me on the road back in toward the ski hill and I used everything I had left to try to catch back up to him. I finished right on his wheel and if I had 20 more yds. I would have passed him.

Steve 20th place and Collin 3rd Place.



Onto River Falls next for the Border Battle with the Minnesota racers.