Nationals Part Deux

So as I mentioned it rained the night before my race. Saturday at 8AM was the given start time for the Expert class race which would also hold the Single Speed field. As I headed out to warm up I met up with my new buddy Davey B. You can check out Davey's blog linked from my blog now. We warmed up and chatted for a while and my legs felt pretty good, maybe not great, but certainly better than some races. Davey and I part ed ways and I set out to give directions to my pit crew (The Muth and The Fath) for what and when. Into the start gate I went. Met up with the hugest ss field I have ever seen. The race had to be filled to the limit. 50 riders all loaded and on the hunt for stars and stripes.

Bam goes the gun and we are off. Given my gearing I was up in the front pretty quick, but of course not off the front. Up and around we went and I felt pretty good, but it had become clear that the pre-ride woes were more than just not having eaten lunch, but that my chosen gear was way off. 34-20 is a manageable gear uphill. If I can get those big wheels rolling uphill and stay on top of it It makes for a killer climbing gear. That was my plane. Kick it big ring style on the climbs and make for a pretty good race. Unfortunately that was a less than ideal strategy given the now soaked grass and slick mud on the climbs. I was going to have to stand up and try and push that gear up the mountain, not a good option.

So I quickly discovered that a lot of guys had planned much better than I did and ran with something like 32-20 or even higher. those guys proved unbeatable on the climbs, and with the rigid fork I wasn't going to be able to out descend them either. It was time to just sit in and do the best I could. By the third lap I was sitting in 13th place, the first rigid fork in the race, and was having a blast just hanging in there and putting the pain train on some of the experts.



There were the exciting spots like the really annoying Subaru-Fisher guy who couldn't hold a line or climb out of the saddle to save his life. Or my buddy from Culpepper VA who traded "Ladies Man" quotes with me for a half a lap. for example "oh Snap, Id like to buy that rock a fish sandwhich!"

Almost there...heading into the very last section of single track on the downhill and then its smooth sailing. I can probably catch at least one ss on the flats with this gear. BLAM!!! Thats the sound of a tubeless tire blowing straight off of the bead. Later guys. I threw a co2 cartridge into the tire but since it was off the bead there was nothing goin. Seal-n flate wouldn't do the trick either since the bead was blown now. I guess Im running down the single track. Needless to say I wasn't the one doing the passing at that point.

Finally the open flats. Run down the hill and to hell with my Race Lite rim, I am not walking across the finish line. Hop on the bike and go. Sprint finish with my "Ultra-low pressure tubeless system" and even took some guy on the line.

23rd. Holy cow, thats a lot of people to pass me when I was messing around with that tire. But I was happy, and felt pretty good about just getting out there and doing it.