Weather
Everyone on the team was preparing for the worst: multiple pairs of gear each, mud guards, wash clothes, tarps, warm clothes, rain ponchos... We all thought it was going to be a disaster. But low and behold, when we arrived, sure, it was cold (35 ish in the morning), but the sun was shining and it was an awesome day. I road half the day with short sleeves and the other with a long sleeve jersey and I was fine. That's how nice it was!
Course
As for the course itself, I'm not sure how he did it, but "magic" Jason managed to navigate us around all of the washouts and river flows to put together one of the best courses we've raced on yet. The course was little soft at first but very soon after, it turned into a set of very fast and tacky single tracks. It was fun.
Bike Set-up
I did take some time to set-up my bike for this type of race, but I admit, not as much as I should have. I managed to install a front mud deflector, heavy duty chain, extra thick lube on all moving parts etc..., but I was running old tires and a few other things needed to be replaced.
Race
On the starting line, Tinker I and were talking about how many time we went back and forth on whether or not we should do this race, but we were both glad we stuck with it and showed up.
My race was uncharacteristically full of mechanicals and drama. On the start line I couldn't get my bike in the big ring so I road just in the middle ring. I also had two flats on the first lap and my derailleur kept acting up from that point on. I spent most of the race trying to make up the lost time.
Special thanks to the other Don's guys on team (and the couple beside us) for helping me out as I didn't have any formal support this race.
Bike Swap
Late in the in race I got the green light from Cannondale to use their test bike. It was only my second real ride on the Scalpel, but I couldn't believe how awesome this bike was. It was a few pounds lighter than the FRO and it was like pedalling air. I couldn't believe how well the single fork handled. This was a great way to finish the race; I only wish I would have been on it earlier.
I'm hoping to finish the rest of the season on one of their new Flash 29ers! Check them out here.
Final ResultsThe 3-person Don's team had a great day as well. They finished 1st and managed to crank out 14 hard earned laps.
As for me, I managed 10 laps, 2nd in the Pro Solo class, but I definitely feel like I should have got a few more laps in. The good thing is that there's always next time (although, we don't know exactly where that will be)... :)
Oh ya, and congrats to the little guy beside us (14yrs old) that won his first 12hr solo race! He did awesome.
So cudos for everyone who persevered and came out to race. And special thanks to Jason and his staff for staying up to 12AM the night before getting the course ready. So contrary to what we were all thinking, it turned out to be a great day.
Feel free to share any thoughts or photos!
See you next time.
AL
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