Burritos, Beer, Badgers, and Barriers

This weeknd was the inagugural Madcross Presents Jonathan Page's Planet Bike Cup (Wow, that is a long name for a race) event held in Sun Prairie, WI, just outside Madtown. I rolled up north of the cheddar curtain with Mr. and Mrs. Popper, along with Amanda of Half Acre. After a crazy detour on I-90 we finally arrived at the hotel



DAY 1

Saturday's race started way back on August 10th when I was up early on Sunday morning to pre-register. Start position was to be determined by order of registration, and being first to register meant a front row starting position and in return hopefully plenty of open dirt for the start of the race. Prior to the race I got a couple of practice laps in and found a course that was really technical and hilly. There were some nasty switchback sections, a couple of uphill grinders, and several offcamber turns. After the longest pre-race talk by the officials we were finally off. The start line was on the midget car race track and allowed about 200 yards of dirt before hitting the main section of the course. Got a pretty good start and was sitting about tenth wheel through the first set of up/down turns. I settled in and was able to pass a couple of overly ambitious riders to around 7th through the barriers. Over the barriers and was now sitting on the wheel of a Vanilla Bicycles rider riding a sweet singlespeed Speedvagen. No time to sit and admire the work of Sacha, and as he started to fade I made a move up to sixth, and eventually fifth. I was now in no mans land. Mike Hemme and Aspen Gory were about 30 yards ahead and I wasn't closing the gap. After a couple of laps I was joined by the eventual 3rd place finisher. Sitting on his wheel we began to reel in Hemme and Gory. At some point I bobbled a remount and he was gone. Next to bridge up to me was Aris Peters, a strong junior racer who I battled with the week before at Jackson Park. We were working nicely together and looked to be battling it out for 5th and 6th with a couple of laps to go. That's when things that seem easy with your heartrate at 120 become really difficult with my heartrate at 180. Around a 180 degree turn from grass to asphalt I went a bit wide hitting a stake and going down on the asphalt. I was up quick, but my bike was covered in yellow caution tape. I had to make a quick decision; stop and pull off all the tape, or start riding and pull off as much as possible and hope the remaining tape doesn't get jammed in my cassette or brakes. I went for option 2. For the next lap I tried to ride hard while pulling off sections of tape. During this process I was caught by a couple more riders. Frustrating, but I needed to remain calm, sit on these guys wheels and recoup. Heading into the last lap I was in about 11th place. The last time through the downhill switchbacks everyone was pushing it and trying to hold their position. A couple of guys went down, I was able to get around the outside, put in a hard effort trying to hold off the guys that went down. I had an 8th place finish in my sight, but up the last uphill grinder, I was caught by two riders and rolled in for 10th. They literally passed me like I was standing still. Frustrating, but still in the money. This was my best finish at a cross race in Wisco, and was really happy with the result. A top 5 was a possibility, but a Top 10 didn't have me disappointed.

After the race we enjoyed burritos as big as your head then headed to the post race festivities. What more could you ask for than High Life on tap, live Country Western tunes, a fire pit, and fireworks.


Day 2


Course was pretty similar to the day before. The promoters made some sections tighter, others faster. Instead of the downhill switchbacks, a gnarly 180 degree offcamber turn was thrown in. It was nasty, but definitely rideable. The barriers were also moved to the bottom of a hill to make a short runup. Overall the course was a bit faster than the day before. Today I had a 2nd row call-up. Gun goes off and found myself sitting Top 20. Not as good as Saturday, but still in the mix. Spent most of the race moving up to 9th place. Started to fade at about 30 minutes in, and was caught by a couple of Pegasus riders. After sitting on for a lap and seeing two laps to go, I put in an attack to hopefully drop the duo.

Photo Sheri Farrel

8th place was also in sight and he was fading. I really felt like I turned myself inside out trying to catch the 8th place rider, and it felt great. It is something that I am rarely am able to do at the end of a cross race, as I usually feel like I am fading, rather than getting stronger. The last time up the run-up, I got to within 10 yards of 8th, but a bobble on the 180 turn had me rolling in solo for 9th place. Today was really rewarding. I put in a hard effort to move up through the field, and was able to turn on the gas when needed. I feel like I owe a lot of this to my coach, Brian Conant. The intervals I've been doing the last couple of months are really paying off. After my races I got to sit back and watch the PROS race. With everyone there and no major mechanicals like the day before it was an awesome race. Page and Todd Wells battled it out to the end with JP coming out on top.


DeKalb is next, and I can't wait.