Monday, October 26, 2009

I should have seen it coming

DCCX, Washington, DC. Great race. Great venue. Great swag. I've done well at this race. Got there with time to spare, (thanks, in part, to the new Garmin Sam bought me) get a good warmup, take the spare wheels to the pit, and line up about 4 rows from the back. Sign #1.
Great. The whistle blows and I stomp on it-need to get as many places as possible before the cluster-f$ck at the sharp left up the hill. Didn't help. Someone goes down in front of me and Thor plows into the back of me. Sign #2.
recover from that and start going up through the trees, trying to again gain ground. Guys are riding like it's a friggin joy ride.Sign #3.
Get around a few. Head down through some turns and OMGWTF someone bites it RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. No where to go. I ride OVER him. Almost. It causes me to go over the bars. Sign #4.
No one is hurt, fortunately. I race hard and start picking off riders. I see a pack of about 10 that I keep gaining ground on. I have 2 laps to go and I'm pretty confident I can catch them. I rail it around the sharp right up to the barriers, go up as fast as I can, remount, and try to do the same on the next sharo right heading to the steep, but rideable runup. Nail a tree root I didn't see, it knocks my rear wheel up in the air at a weird angle. I recover, quite impressed with myself, but something's wrong. Tire is rubbing the frame. Rolled the friggin tubie. The pit is WAY over the other side of the finish line. I pack it in. Final sign. DNF.
Now I have a weekend off coming up. Guess I'll be gluing that tire.

3 comments:

cxstraggler said...

Hey partner, sorry to hear about the trouble you ran into. Course was pretty nice though, considering? Yeah sometimes when everything goes right, in the end nothing goes right. Funny how that works isnt it? I was waiting for the results to see how you did and adam(Cat 4 cross result nemesis)did at the race. Well sorry for the luck, but you did manage to escape two problems/wrecks without much dilemma/injury which is good to hear. How did the chocolate mad alchemy warming go? chat later.

NVdK said...

The embro rocks, bro :-) That, free beer and pancakes, almost made up for the race.

FishrCutB8 said...

Still out there kicking, brother. Keep getting after it!





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