The 6th round of the Pro XCT was in Wisconsin this past weekend. I nearly cracked the top 10, rolling in 11th place. I was sure I had a top 10 in laps 3 and 4 but I wasn’t able to catch 10th on the last lap.

The course was a blast again this year, the WORS people do a great job making courses even though they have very little elevation to work with. The built a skills section at the end of the course that I looked forward to each lap. There was a pile of large rocks to get up and over, a “staircase” made from railroad ties, a steep dirt drop, 3 small rock rock bars and a bridge built slightly off camber between two trees. The rest of the course was twisty single track through thick trees, low ferns and all was so green!

I rode my Jamis Dakar XCR 29 Team with Stan’s NoTubes Valors. My team mate, Rotem and I both agreed that the full suspension was the right choice for that course, it made getting over the rocks so much smoother. I was happy to have my Valors for the short and sometimes steep climbs. This is the first race I’ve had my RockShox dual lockout system. I utilized it on the steep climbs as well. Since there was rain forecasted I chose to run my Geax Sagruaros, they can handle slippery conditions as well as dry. We had a little rain at the end of our race, but the course stayed in good shape for us. Not so much for the men’s race after ours, they were covered in mud and grass by the end of their 6 laps!

The highlight of the race was meeting Chris, Ben and Dianne from Mt. Borah. Mt. Borah is a great supporter of Team Jamis, they have been for a few years now. They make our custom kits which are top notch quality. I wear my kits every day in every condition and I’m always comfortable. They look sharp and hold up to a silly amount of abuse and washing! I talked to Chris about possibly racing the Mt. Borah Epic next summer, we shall see!

PS-as soon as I get a photo of me racing, I'll post it. So far I haven't found any!

Views during my warm up