Wow, times been flying since I've been here in Milwaukee. I've been running around this entire week tryna sort out a new race wheel which I destroyed on Friday last week while doing a practice lap of the course.
After stressing like a mad man, the Subaru Trek Team came to the rescue with one of Emily Batty's spare race wheels. The guys were super helpful and very accommodating. A huge thanks needs to go out to them for helping me out, without you guys I wouldnt have been able to race at all on the weekend. They slotted the wheel in and I was back onto the track to get some more practice.
I felt pretty tired on the bike after a super tough weeks training, but felt like I had the course dialed in. I made my way back across to the Team EXPO camp site. Before continuing I need to give a huge shout out to Gus, Papa Ted, Riley and all the other people helped me out with accommodation and shuttling. I really appreciate the help you guys did for me, you really made the stay in Wisconsin an awesome one.
so, most of Friday afternoon consisted of me running around after a wheel, but once the riding was out of the way I spent the entire afternoon lounging around in the campsite with good friend and fellow Junior competitor, Casey Williams. By the next morning I was pretty well rested and super amped to hit the race with everything I had. Being a Pro XCT (NORBA) I was not allowed to race up in the Pro/Elite Category, which meant my race was around 11:00 (Pro Cat 1).
The field was pretty big, around 100-120 riders in total. I stood on the start line, literally shaking in my socks, waiting for the siren to sound the start of my 4 lap race. I managed to make a good leap to the front, from there I decided to hammer as hard as I could at the front of the pack. The tactics seemed to work, I'd opened a good 5 second gap over the front runners before we hit the hardest and longest climb of the track. By the end of the first lap, Casey Williams and I came through together, around 30 seconds ahead of the field.
I made my move on one of the steeper climbs on lap 2, opening the gap up to around 1min over the next lap as I headed into lap 3. Over lap 3 I managed to stretch the gap out to around 1:45 and felt really strong heading into the last lap. The last lap began to get really tricky. The lines had changed drastically, switch back corners on the climbs were getting super loose, and the fact that there were 100's of Cat1 men and women back markers ahead made racing really tricky. Many of the people would not give way in the single track, mainly due to the fact that they thought I was a late charging back marker trying to make unnecessary passes. This didnt help the fact that a hard charging Casey was coming through the now "alert" field. My lead began to whittle down fast and before I knew it he was on the same switch back climb as me, just one contour below.
I made one last, super big push up the final technical climb to try open a small buffer before hitting the single track to the finish line. Fortunately it worked out, I crossed the line around 25 seconds ahead of Casey.
Results Pro Cat 1 (overall)
1. Brendon Davids
2. Casey Williams (+0.26)
3. Max Houtzager (+1.30)
4. Payson Mcelveen (+2.40)
5. Jake Richards (+4.00)
Then came the Short track on Sunday. A discipline that I have never raced in. Our starting call up was based on the results from the previous day-meaning I was the first seeded rider, and would have first pick at the start line.
The short 900m track was open, and fast. Meaning one thing.... HARD racing! The gun went for the start, I slipped a pedal, nearly went over the bars, dropped to the tail end of the field, and caused a huge crash in the process. I managed to get going and had to claw my way through the field. I rode on the absolute limit for 3 full before eventually meeting the back of the lead group of 4. Casey was laying down the law and making us all bleed to hang with him. Around the half way mark (8minutes in) I went to the front and went as hard as I could. I managed to whittle the pack down to 3, with Casey a little off the back. One of the Cat1 u23's then made a major attack, which no one wanted to bridge, I saw it as a window of opportunity and went for it. I bridged the gap and as soon as I caught him I countered, catching him by surprise.
I managed to hold my lead for the final two laps, crossing the line 5 seconds ahead of Josh Johnson (Pro Cat1 u23) and around 25seconds ahead of the next junior.
A huge thank you needs to go out to the following people for helping out and for making my stay in Wisconsin so awesome! Gus, Christie and Pappa Ted ( Expo Racing ) for hosting me before and during the race as well as the endless help my entire stay. Subaru Trek Factory Team for the spare race wheel that they gave me for the racing. Without them the race would have been impossible to do! Riley Kopesky and his family for hosting me the week after the race! They Really made my stay super comfy and stress free! Johann Wykerd for helping me out with a hub, even though I'm on the other side of the world!! I really appreciate the help from each and every single one of you!
Now I'm in Windham, NY. The course is really cool. Super tough, but fun!!! Will get some images up ASAP!
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