1. Race start, I've been working a bit on this and I'm getting much better as I entered the woods third wheel.
2. By the end of the first climb I briefly moved up to second place before being passed by pro Andrew Frye.
3. On the looooooooong very tech downhill Andrew moved over and let me pass so I could open up with the big wheels and managed by the end of the lap to open an itty bitty gap to Andrew and Wheels.
4. On the second climb both Andrew and Wheels passed me. I dug in to hold their wheels during the 20 minute ascent. At the top of the climb Andrew had bike problems so it was just me and Wheels to try to catch the first place guy.
5. At the begining of the descent Wheels let me pass knowing I was faster on the downhill. I graciously accepted and quickly tried to put some time between myself and him knowing full well that he'd blow my doors off on the next climb.
6. I was pulling away when I noticed my front end get very noddly.
7. Pull over to find a 1 inch cut in my sidewall. Not clean through but enough that the stans was having a hard time sealing up. Spend a couple of minutes trying to get it sealed. Wheels rolls by and asks if I need help. Good guy.
8. Finally get tire sealed and haven't lost any more places.
9. Continue to start/finish to find the tire going down again.
10. Stop at the car (parked next to the tape) and spend a couple more minutes. Get passed by 5 or so experts in the process.
11. Dig deep to catch Big Al and Andrew (back in the race after a flat tire) on the 3rd climb and move back into 4th overall/2nd expert II.
12. Get passed by Brad Perley. Damn guy played it smart and kept a solid pace the whole race.
13. Fly down descent seeing no other experts but pass lots of sport/beginners.
14. Suffer mightily on final climb walking some sections I should still be able to ride. Definitely suffering from trying to bridge back from the flat tire.
15. Feel cramps start to build.
16. Triceps in extreme agony during descent.
17. Left leg cramps from low calf to groin. Worry seriously about being able to finish.
18. Cramp goes away enough to suffer through to finish. 5th overall, 2nd expert II
19. Drop bike.
20. Crawl into hole.
Daddy time pre-race.
Lapping through sometime during the suffering.
2 comments:
Perhaps next year you won't have any wheel issues! Way to persevere. See you at Bradbury, should be a blast!
I blame you wheels, if you hadn't let me by for the descent I probably wouldn't have hit whatever rock took me out. I'll get you back this weekend.
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