WORS #1 Bump N’ Jump

Iola, WI
WORS #1 Iola Bump & Jump Sunday May 10, 2009
by: Dan Ellerkamp

Lined up for my first Iola race ever not knowing quite what to expect…but I was excited after hearing lots of positive things about the course and the climbs in particular.  The Bump N’ Jump did not disappoint.  Right at the inaugural “gooooo” of the season, racers were treated to long and steady climbs with super fast descents.  I had a blast the first half of the lap.  Let my front wheel wash out on a loose dusty turn pretty early on in the race and I lost a few places…rookie mistake.  Settled in to a comfortable tempo throughout the middle laps and felt reasonably good. Dropped my chain late in the 4th lap and lost another minute trying to wrestle it back through my chainguide whilst cursing and seeing another 20 riders fly by.  Since this has happened to me in every race, I’m ditching my 1x9 experiment and putting on a derailleur and double crankset for the next race.  I felt I could have used a big ring on most of the course anyways.  Ended up about in the middle of the Comp field and my Age Class, which was a big improvement over last year when I was more of a BOP Comp rider.  As long as I’m improving and having fun, thats the goal for this season.

Overall it felt awesome to be back racing again, I just have to improve my bike handling skills a bit more.  What better way to do that than to race with a bunch of very fast and skilled riders!