Pontiac Lake "XC" Classic - New and Improved!

One of my favorite races and places to ride year after year has been Pontiac Lake. In the past this opener to the Tailwind USAC XC series has been traditionally a time trial. But this year we jumped right in with some heart in the throat, balls out, man to man XC racing! And I think it worked out very well. My hats off to Tailwind for making some nice changes and pulling off a flawless day. And to boot they had a HUGE turnout. Hope that means more good things for MTB racing in the state!

As for me, I had a good day overall. And it went something like this. There were a lot of new faces on the line this year, and they all proved to be very fast. We hit full gas as soon as the word go entered our ears! Roger took the hole shot and wasnt looking back. Brad followed, then Alex then me. Gus Hemingway was in the mix along with Jon Dub-9 as well. We rolled at a blistering pace. And Roger and Brad were getting a gap as we went into 2 mile hill. I felt like crap! HR was not feeling in control, and legs heavy. But I was able to put out a nice consistent power. Just could not attack or react to digs. We rolled around in the woods a bit on Alex's wheel. Brad and Roger were no longer in site. About 6 miles in, Mike Wissink caught my group. I was sensing Alex was past his limit, as his climbing was beginning to slow down. Gus appeared to be content with hanging on. As Mike called out to pass, we all pulled over, braked and let him go. I was on the back of the group and as Mike went by, I jumped on knowing this would be my chance to try and break the group. We went into one of the faster sections on the race, and around the 8th mile, Were treated to monster mud hole! Mike slammed on the brakes and we all stacked up. We tried to cut through the muddy woods, but it wasn't much better. Mike made it through but I lost his wheel as I was stopped dead in my tracks. Then I heard a big sploosh!!!!!! It was Dub-9 going right through the middle of the mud and carrying all his speed thus hooking up onto the back of the Wissink train. I made my move to get away from the chaos as soon as I could to get a gap, and try to not let Dub-9 go. I made it with about 15-20 yards, but just could not latch on. During the process, I was able to grow my gap over Alex and Gus to the point that I could not see them in the woods any longer. I pushed as hard as I could through lap 2 but just really could not get it going like I wanted. I crossed the line and took 4th. A good result, but hoping for better in the coming weeks.


Congrats to Brad Lako for taking his first ever UASC Cat 1 Expert XC Mountain Bike Win! He tore some shit up today, and I am very proud of you brother!

Also congrats to Jeff Payn for 1st in the single speed class, Pat Russell for 2nd.
Mike Wissink - 1st in Expert 40-49
Rob Selle - 2nd Expert 40-49
Shawn Schaffert - 3rd Expert 40-49
Jordan Wakely for taking back to back wins in Elite this weekend (Rust Shaker and PLRA XC)!