So last Tuesday I went out for a nice ride at Arbor Hills next door to the apartment. I was going to hit up a lap there, then ride to FL and do a lap, then finish up with one more lap at Arbor Hills. Well I ride over to Arbor from the apartment and quickly jump on the single track. (This was also my first ride on my new tubeless set up!)
I'm flying down the trail feeling awesome! Well about 3 minutes in I get to this really rooty drop so I speed up and "coast" over it. Well all the sudden it's like I slammed the breaks on and it feels like all hell just broke loose in my rear wheel. I come to a full stop and look behind me to find my rear derailluer jammed into my rear wheel!!
It was UGLY! About 3-4 spokes were broken in half and it obviously wasn't rideable. Thanks goodness I was only a mile from the apartment and not at FL. I call Jay and he says to bring it up there so he can figure out what's going on. (race on Sunday)I walk home and load the bike onto the back of the car. I get to Sun & Ski and Jay quickly gets to work. I of course had to snap a few more quick pics.
I end up leaving the bike with Jay so he can work his magic and head back home to get ready for work. This is now the second day I'd been up to S&S because the day before I bought my new tubeless kit and chain! He ended up replacing the rear derailluer and 14 spokes!I had to work all week, so I left the bike with him and didn't get to pick it up till Saturday. (The day before the race) As soon as I picked it up around noon, I headed over to RCP to get a quick ride in before the race and see how the course was. Well about 33 minutes into that ride my rear wheel started rubbing the frame, so I stop to check it out and 4-5 spokes had come totally loose so now the wheel was out of true pretty bad. Awesome I thought!!!
I of course call Jay again, but forgot he was about to be in a wedding. He texted me a bit later and we decided I'd drop the bike of at the shop and he'd drop it off that night after he swung by the shop to check it out.
That night he dropped off the bike and everything looked good. He informed me that sometimes spokes will come loose after getting replaced, but that hopefully they'd stay put this time.
Well, the next morning I got up around 6:30 to head out to the race. I look downstairs to see Jay and Lindsey already headed out! I load up and get there around 7:30. My race went off at 9am. I did a quick lap on the single track start and everything felt ok. Jay had brough an extra 29er wheel just in case I wanted to run that one. I decided against it and ended up paying the price.
Me and the other "CAT1 Sr Men 19-29" lined up at 8:58 and were ready to go. The gun went off and we were racing! The first few seconds of the start weren't too bad and I entered the single track in 5th place out of 8. We were hauling some serious ass. What a huge difference btwn CAT2 and CAT1 already. I wasn't having too much of a problem keeping up and was happy to be hanging on in 5th. About 10 mins in it looked like the other 3 guys had fallen off pace a bit. I was hanging on to the front group! By the time we made it around to the start area again I was still hanging on for dear life.
When we entered the actual trail head I could tell I was in the process of getting dropped. At that point I thought it was over, but soon enough I could see the 3 guys ahead of me! I worked pretty hard to get real close to catching them, and right before I did someone happened to my gearing and I think my chain got caught btwn two cogs. Gahhhhhhh. Once I was good to go again, they had another huge gap. Well, let me tell you this. A gap in CAT1 means you are so screwed. I spent the rest of that lap trying to catch them and finished the first lap about a minute behind them.
On the second lap everything started going downhill. I kept thinking spokes were coming loose again, and at one point actually STOPPED in the trail to check them. At that point they felt ok, but mentally I was totally out of the race. About 5mins later a tree caught my jersey and ripped a huge chunk out of it (and my shoulder).Towards the end of that lap I could hear my rear wheel rubbing a bit and knew something was awash. That was it. I was done.
Just before crossing the line to start my third lap I bailed and DNFd. Went over to see Jay and we chatted for a bit. I knew I should have used the other wheel he brought, but didn't go with my gut feeling. With that said, I'm not an excuse kind of racer, and I was getting it handed to me out there by those other CAT1s!
It was an awesome experience racing with those guys and I can't wait to do it again. I definitely wouldn't have placed, but I feel I could have taken 4th or 5th if I'd been able to finish. I'll be back to try the XC series next year as a CAT1. Huge thanks to DORBA for putting on such an awesome event. Those guys put on fun races that are well organized and exciting for all involved. I ended up volunteering for the CAT2 sweep job and had fun doing that.
Congrats to Jay and Lindsey for both killing it out there. You guys rock! I can't wait for the next one. See everyone out there!
For now, I've gotta do some running cause I have a 50K in two weeks :)
_Jacob_
Dang man! Sorry to hear you had a mechanical.
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