Saturday, March 7, 2009

St George ICUP




Well thinks sure started well today. The weather was much better than forcasted. My boys tore it up in their races. It sure makes a daddy's heart flutter when he sees his boys try so hard. And Dot did well in her first sport race coming in 5th place among the "youngster" crowd.

Jonny

Joey

My race started with a huge pack of 24 racers so I wasn't sure what to expect. I got out to a slow start not wanting to mix it up with the pack too much, but by the first few hills I made it to the front third. I was feeling good but was trying to hold back some not wanting to flame out like I have a bad habit of doing. But by the time we finished all the climbing I had passed Bob S and Darren C who have been my hard to reach targets all last year. I was hoping it was because of my improvement rather than their early season rusty legs. But as soon as I passed Darren my chain fell off. They passed me and I lost 3 spots. The second lap was scary since I couldn't catch back up with them and was feeling tired. I eased up for a couple of minutes, drank some Carborocket and went for it again. Then during the third lap I started seeing the group again and passed Bob again (he looked like he was hurting). Then I caught up with Darren and Tim W. I was feeling great! There was still the front group ahead but I was stoked to be where I was against these guys! I only had a mile to go! What could happen?

Pssssssssssssssssssss! I hit A sharp rock and the Stan's started spewing! I didn't worry too much at first since the Stan's had been reliable so far. But the hole did not seal and I had to stop. I used up two canisters of CO2 but the hole was to big. I had to start pushing (after I spent about 5 minutes screaming and cursing) I came across Dan a local St George racer I new and he gave me another canister and I put the tube in. I at least got to ride to the finish instead of walking. I finished third to last. I don't know where the two behind me were. I would have only finished 7th or 8th anyway but I do think that was the best I raced this early in the season. Usually I burn out on my last lap. I guess there's always the next race. And I hope it will be on the NEW ARANTIX!

ARANTIX MILES: 2380


5 comments:

KanyonKris said...

Mechanicals are annoying - and always seem to happen when you're having a good race. But at least you rode strong and felt good about your riding.

mugimo said...

Glad you did well and look forward to seeing more of that. Hopefully I will be better prepared and do much better so I don't embarrass you at future races!

Anonymous said...

Nice work even though you had mechanicals. If history is any indicator you are going to have a great season starting out this strong. Looking forward to Cholla.

Anonymous said...

ha!! i finished dead last. been fight extreme knee pain all week. gave up on the second lap after a flat and just cruzed to the finish.

Brad said...

Sounds like a good year awaits you. Congrats, even though...