WEMS Championship at Levis-Trow

My fourth and the final race of the WEMS Series was the WEMS Championship held on October 6 at Levis-Trow. This race completes my goal of competing in the singlespeed category for the long races...long being 100 mile or 10 hours depending on the venue. I came into the race as the points leader and was stoked to ride the final race of the series.

I began the series with a race at Levis in June and from my race report, I had a rough time with the heat. This would definitely not be the case this time around since forecasted highs would be in the upper 40's. I made the early morning drive and showed up with enough time to register and get everything ready. The race was toned down and it would only be 6 laps with a distance of 11.5 miles per lap. Nice. Even better was the removal of a climb from the race held in June. The trails around the base of the mounds were basically the same but the climb up was one of the descents of the June race and then there was trail riding at the top for a bit.

At the sound of the shotgun, the race was off, about 6 heads got to hammering and I got to a moderate pace going in the chase group. I got to the front of it pretty quick since the singletrack approached fast. It was nice to keep my own rhythm when we got to the singletrack and I rode away from that group and ended up catching a couple of stragglers off the back of the front group after a few miles. There has been little rain this summer and it was apparent in the height of the roots all over the place. While some hid under a leafy blanket, many looked you in the eye each time you went through a particularly dense section and just laughed at ya. The worst were around miles 2 thru 5...or so. After about 5.5 miles, the climbing began. The incline was manageable on the 32x20 until a particularly sandy part at the top. Everytime, my rear wheel spun like the tasmanian devil...heck my toungue was probly out and I was gruntin and snortin too.

Made it through the first lap feeling fine and hit the second with gusto. A few miles in, I came across a couple orange clad hunters carrying large rifles. Here I am in my black and purple kit, just getting the fear of dodging bullets from a trigger happy hunter. Good thing I left the antler attachment for my helmet at home. I got to thinking that the quicker I get the race done, the better. I didn't stop at the end of the lap and at the sandy part of the climb of the next lap, I was caught by Charlie Farrow! He got into his books on tape driving to the race and over shot the exit. He got a late start and was on his second lap, while I was on my third. We rode together for a number of miles until the final climb up to the Northface. He was strong and rode away from me. I was feeling a bit of the fade and decided to just pace it out. I didn't stop and took on the fourth lap. The laps were getting a bit more difficult as seems to always be the case for me around the 50 mile mark. After the lap, I hit the car and took about 10 minutes to eat and get a bit of recovery time.

I waited for the two lap race to take off and then I followed after a couple minutes. When I started again, the legs were a bit tight and it took a bit for them to loosen up. I was dragging and was getting worried that Charlie would catch and pass me. At the end of the lap, I was stoked for the final lap. I don't know if it was the sound of gun fire about two miles in or that my second wind kicked in but I had a real good lap. I was thinking that I have ridden my bike through sketchy areas of Chicago and NYC, but I was not afraid of getting shot like I was riding thru the woods of Wisco. I ended up finishing up the 70+ miles in 7:37. That was good enough for fourth finisher overall, top singlespeed of the day and series winner for single speed.

The day ended with awards, and a raffle of a bunch of stuff. As stated before, if you like riding singletrack and race in a low key environment, give a go at one of the WEMS races. Good times, great oldies.