Ride Ride Race Wait

So after St. Joes I had a pretty mild week (mild meaning I just work 70hrs and did not get to train). So I decided since I had Sunday off i should get a ride going. 62 mile covered bridge ride with a 17.2 mph average. It felt good! daylight saving gave me opportunities to ride after work so I snagged a quick 27 mile road ride. I demoed a Cannondale Caffeine 1 F29 Thanks to Sparky and the good folks at Ghisallo. It was a pretty sweet ride. The Lefty Carbon fork (is it really a fork if it only has one leg of should I call it a suspension rod?) was nice and stiff. The bike itself was very nimble and handled very well. I took it to lost valley for some pre-race night laps and almost made it through one but broke the chain. I was able to get a tri-fecta commute (38miles w/ a 17.6mph average) in before the race with a short trip to Cwood Saturday night to blow the legs out. 62+27+38+whatever, carry the one bring that down....a little over 130 miles in a week.

Sunday came and it found me at the mound prepping my bike for the second expert race of my career. The new XT cranks looked fast and I hoped they performed the same. However, it was at this time I began to notice that my fork didn't feel right. I checked the pressure and set off for a practice loop with the other DrJs. After about 2 miles the fork was toast I must have blown a seal and was leaking pressure causing it to bottom out from just my weight (no fat jokes please). I was pressed for time and just decided to race it and see how far I could get. The pace started out hot with the cyclocross bikes leading us down the hamberg trail at 20+mph. I bombed down the first downhill and could tell the lack of compressed air was going to be a huge factor. I felt good thought and ripped up the long grinding clime passing riders like I knew what I was doing. I knew Chris was wearing his helmet cam so I pushed hard to get around everyone and get some air time. The one problem was he was riding too fast for the camera to record anything. I did eventually get passed about 10 seconds later with Dave Breslin giving me some props. As we carver the corner and began descending my rear brake began to go soft. Hurling though the world without suspension and about 20% breaking power was not only wreaking havoc on my arms but also on my front wheel. I flatted. So within the first two miles I had three mechanicals (blown fork, no rear brakes, and a flat). I watched as the expert field passed me by then as the sport riders began to pass me with giant question marks on their faces.

Tube in, Chamois to saddle, throttle open and balls to the wall.

I began to work back through the giant sport class and back toward the experts. I managed to catch a few experts before my three laps ended. I had a good performance considering. Still disappointing. Now I wait for Rockshox to work their magic on my fork and for a bleed kit to come into the shop. The good news is that Chris took first again, BLM came out and raced endurance, Dwayne looks stronger, and we partied like rock stars at Brewskies afterward.