Lewis Morris Challenge H2H Results

Today was a good and bad day for me. Thanks to Geoff and all the Marty's guys that did a great job with organization and timing. The race was cool and fun as expected but there was some interesting unexpected stuff for me for sure.

Off the line I take 4th wheel and have John A. in my sights as he gets a small gap and I know that I need to watch him. At this point it was(I think) John, then Steve M., then myself. Through the first climb all was good and then into the down was fine and then into the switchback to teal I started to fire up and got onto John's wheel. I should have stayed there. Just as we crest the top of the rooted climb I pulled around him and took the lead. On the next downhill hard right my front tire was drifting but then it caught and I ate it HARD!!! I was tossed down and surprised that my bike and myself were still working right. I did a running cross mount after 5 passed and got back on and had no shifting from my derailleur. I would not last like that so I had to pull over. ALL OF THE HOUSING GOING TO MY REAR DERAILLEUR CAME OUT OF THE MOUNTS ON THE FRAME GIVING ME TOO MUCH SLACK. How does this even happen? So I had to stop for two minutes or so to rehang my rear derailleur cable. Once I got it back on and it was all good I WAS PISSED!!! It's soooo interesting to ride angry. Utah was up ahead once I got back on and I called out on your left and I"M ANGRY...he laughed and pulled to the side and let me go through. By the middle of the 2nd lap I was solidly in 2nd place. That's right 2nd. Holy hell how did I make up that much time that quickly. Anger - that's how. I did it poorly though. That would only make me suffer in the end.

So lap 2 once I got into 2nd I was sitting comfortably and riding well. But my bike wouldn't shift into the 3 easiest gears in the back AGAIN(just like William's Lake) but it was because that back piece of housing slipped out again. Dammit! I didn't realize it until the end but it was too late. So I pushed the big gears the whole 2nd lap and going into lap 3 my teammate Keith came up from behind and we worked together for a little bit but by that time it was too late already. I set out for lap 3 knowing impending doom was coming.

During lap 3, I started it in 2nd, and the pain started to creep in. The legs were a little cooked from that 1st and 2nd lap land speed record I was trying to set = stooopid! So I rode well but again Keith came up and I heard the Guys Bike guy pretty close as well. I climbed my heart out but it was not all there. I rounded the last corner to start lap 4 with Keith and the Guys guy right there and knew I couldn't hold them off for long. I did what I could but was shakey and hurting at that point. So I had to let them go. My next job was just to preserve 4th and that's what I did. I totally limped through a good portion of lap 3 and 4 and finished solidly in 4th but knew there was SOOO much more if I hadn't been a tool and tried to find the caloric content of LM dirt. Chalk it all up to experience. Ok and to top it off my rear tire was going flat at some point since there is 0 pressure in it right now. What a day.