Race Re-cap

Back to the real world this week. I got a road ride and a lost valley ride in so far for the week. Lost valley is great for the single speed. It allows you to really dial in the spinning, and focus on your form. I got to ride a lap with come guys from Momentum Cycles in St Charles. I have met them on the trail before. Good group of guys. All in I got two laps, one in each direction. 1:34 ride with a 155 avg HR. But lets talk about why I rode LV last night. I awoke a 5am yesterday morning and was rolling from the Elk lodge near Castlewood at 5:35am. I came down the road to the Grotepeter flat section that brings you to the ranger station. I notice that my rear cassette was skipping a bit, but ignored it and instead looked at the faint light coming over the trees I began to ascend the Love/3%/Mountain Ridge trail, and boom! Next thing I know,the derailleur is dragging on the ground. PISS!!!! The hanger broke off, and crushed my ride. I WALKED back to my car, passing a ranger opening the gate. We said our hello's, and moved on with our day. I went home, switched bike, and slept for another hour. The whole ride home I was planning how I would get a ride in for the day. I used to get really upset when things like this happened to me on a ride with limited time. But now I try to just take things as they come, and remain calm. I don't want to cloud my judgment.





Here are some more pics of the LBL race. Big Ring Breslin found the link for me. Good thing too, because I tried to find it and was unsuccessful. Any hoe, I took third in the sport race age 19-29. Not sure about the overall results, but my time was 1:58.37 for the 22.6 mile race.





The guy making the face dug his front wheel onto a tree pretty hard. I told him a few minutes earlier that we should work together to close the gap with the leaders. but after he crashed, I got around him, and never saw him. It makes me re-think my strategy. Would I have ridden slower if I stayed behind him for longer?