Monday, October 08, 2007

Like A Box Of Chocolates






But the shackles wouldn't break free.....






It was like I was Forest Gump when he was a little kid with the leg braces and they were yelling "Run Forest Run"






Really it was Rob Boldt and Crazy Karl yelling, "Bend your leg, bend your leg" I couldn't do it....It might have looked painful, but the pain was secondary...I just wanted my legs to bend so I could get back on my bike and pedal to the finish...






If you check out the map player you can see I was stuck on the top of the Equalizer for about 40 seconds while paralyzed from the waist down. I had to walk up the hill with my heels digging into the earth, every muscle in my legs completely tweaked out...I fell over when my leg wouldn't bend and somebody picked me up....






I finally clipped in, but only with my left foot and had to pedal with one leg all the way across the top of the quarry...right leg finally started working on the slick rock....but it was too late....Doug smelled the WIN...






Check out the GPS below and if you play the map at slow speed you can almost see the W vanish on the last climb...















How it all played out.....






Awesome dinner Saturday night with Andrea's sister visiting from NY cooking up a mean Lasagna.






Rolled out the front door at 1:00....15 minutes over to the course from home....to the start line.






Go






Not the greatest start, maybe 8th into the woods....passed a guy....passed Chris P. Tristan leads the group of 5....wait Cole House is of the front....I didn't even know it...






Lap 2....catch Cole, I take the lead, ride hard through the technical sections and start to drop Mike Phillips






Lap 3....Jesse takes over and starts to put the hurt on Tristan....Jesse flats through the river crossing....Doug attacks up the climb after the log jump....going fast Cole takes over after the river....Up the Stairway Climb....Gap opens Cole and I are away....






Lap 4 Riding smooth....opening the gap lapped traffic starts to come into play....out of water.....






Lap 5 Jesse saves the day with a cold BKB bottle...I attack Cole...gap go....maybe a win....Cramping bad up the Stairway....equalized

































...you never know what you are going to get...






Every race is different, every race will throw out some different scenarios, luck plays a factor, bad luck is a bummer, you learn from every race you do.....I have been 2nd too many times this year....Doug took a wrong turn at O2S, Simonson crashed out of Cheq, Tristan couldn't race all summer, Jesse flatted, Marko crashed into the river....I love racing mountain bikes!


Andrea finished 10th in the Elite Womens field. She didn't have the best race in the world.






Thanks to all the race volunteers, new race promoter, WORS, PCW, Trek, Hyundai, Crank Bros, Oakley, Rusty

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I apologize for punching you in the leg so hard but it wouldn't bend. Man..........$800 gap........what a race.

Anonymous said...

you should have punched harder....maybe i would have won....brian