Rock Bridge

Beautiful day today and damn good conditions for July in Missouri. The high was mid-80s, no rain in the past few days, and a good turn out made for an awesome day of racing here in Columbia. I had a pretty mellow week riding-wise so I felt well rested and ready to go.

The single speed category had 6 guys, including fast-man Fuhrmann, some KC dudes, a dude I didn't know, and my friend cock puncher from team seagal. The race got off to a quick start and I managed to be second wheel heading into the trees. To my surprise, myself and the dude I didn't know slowly pulled away from the field...and I felt like we were going at a brisk pace (perhaps 60-70% effort) but nothing too crazy. The lap was an 8 mile loop with a little bit of everything included and to my advantage, I know those trails very well. I ended up pulling around the lead guy somewhere around 3-4 miles in and didn't look back. During the first lap I was feelin great. I was starting to ride my way into the expert class again so was super psyched. I knew that the 29er crew dude Fuhrman was somewhere behind me but I felt like my pace was solid. About 1.5 miles in to my second lap murphy's law came into effect and I flatted on my rear tire. Damn. My rear wheel is bolted on and uses a nifty ENO eccentric hub, which is great but also a serious bitch to deal with when changing a flat. So I've always told myself that if I flatted on the rear during a race, I'd call it quits. Shit. I was curious about where I was so I hit my stop watch and watched until Fuhrmann came by. To my chagrin saw that I at least a minute and 20 seconds on him. Damn.

Oh well. That's bike racing.

Maggie on the other hand, rocked it today. She was one of 3 of the 6 beginner women who got 2 laps in and managed to ride her way into second! After her first lap there was some poor communication about how many she had left so she stood around for about 5 minutes...so if that wouldn't have happened she might have won.

We both had a blast and are psyched for next sunday!