Cycle News

VOL. 53 ISSUE 40 DECEMBER 20, 2016 P63 with our travel agent and we got him on the plane. The rest we kind of figured out during that week. He was able to stay with the other three riders the whole time, walking the special tests. The preparation part of the event is huge. You memorize every special test and I didn't want to sacrifice anything for that." Michael had some demons to face, however, since he crashed out of the Six Days the year before, breaking his wrist on the first test of the first day. "We went from our lead rider from someone who didn't even finish day one last year," Kudla said. "That was also on him, too. He's the guy replacing our guy that's supposed to win. I know Layne, for sure, was really stressed. A lot of weight was on his shoulders." "They definitely had a lot of faith to move me straight into the Trophy team as a fill-in," said Michael. "After last year, it was embarrassing, honestly. I've never been so embar- rassed in my life. I wanted to come back and show every- one I'm capable and I can be consistent and healthy the whole time." "The other three team members, they took him under their wing and they didn't put too much pressure on him," said Kallonen. "Obviously he was carrying a lot of pressure. We were all saying, 'Just ride your own pace, your own race and just [stay] mistake-free,' and that's what he did. He was good. When we were falling behind on day two, Layne actually stepped it up on day three and day four and started to really clock good times. At first it was like 40th overall, but then as the race went on, he was already getting close to top-20. It really showed he was also able to step it up when it was needed as a team. "It was for sure a stress- ful couple days there to get everything sorted but I think, obviously, the results speak for themselves. It was the right move in the sense that we were able to win." DAVE BERTRAM From the mid 1980s to the early '90s Dave Bertram was an integral part of Team USA and the Six Days effort. Not only did he compete in eight ISDEs, earning five gold medals and earning "Top American" status in 1987 in Poland, he devoted much of his own time and effort rais- ing funds and doing whatev- er he could to put together the strongest U.S. World Trophy Team as humanly possible. In 1985, he teamed up with Randy Hawkins to form Ride To Win, an organization designed to help send the U.S. Team to the Six Days, which he continued to run after he retired from racing in 1991. So, as you can image, he was also thrilled to see everything finally come together this year. "I always felt we had the best off-road riders—wish special tests were held in the woods back then—but we just couldn't prove it with a win," Bertram says. "But when guys like Ty Davis and Rodney Smith came in from the moto side, they were just incredible; I was expecting it [an eventual U.S. win]. I knew it was coming; it was just a matter of time. "Those guys winning the ISDE this year definitely made me proud as an Ameri- can to win and finally show that we have the best riders."

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