Iceman

I have been feeling a lack of motivation to race just lately.. So it was just 4 days before the race I sent a note to Iceman asking if I could still get in to the big race and... "Sure, no problem." OK I'm in better start training.. Hill repeats on Wednesday and then rest till the race...

Race started out insane fast with the big train screaming down the trail. I was a little surprised that I felt so good and realized I was having a blast.. I was glad I'd decided to race... It was worth the trip just for that rush blasting those first few miles... Things settled down and were going great.. I was in great group. Bill and Christian were with me along with Laprairie, Jansen, Buccellato, Steinberg, Brzuchanski and a couple out of state guys. But at about a third of the way into the race I had a front tire puncture... Bah!

I fumbled to find the puncture and discovered it's a rip in the sidewall. Tried to get the Stans to seal it and wasted my only co2 cartridge in the process... No go. I gota put a tube in.. Yada, yada, and 200 pumps on the mini-pump later, and I'm rolling again.. Lost a good 8 min with the flat tire so what am I racing for? Not sure.. I figured I'd just try and keep a good pace try not to be last place and I'd be able to use the ride time on my computer later to compare for some "what if thinking". Ended up pretty fun, even being so far off cause there were still lots of crowds to cheer us on.. I caught up to Shawn real quick as Shawn had a mile 4 crash which at the time we thought might be a dislocated his shoulder or something... It would make for a painful ride for both of us for the next 15 miles. It hurt me just to hear him going over the big bumps...

At the end I rolled in 34th at 1:47:59.. I'd worked my way back past about 20 guys and all the women but Kelli Emmett, yeah a girl beat me. My ride time was 1:40:04... I feel pretty sure I'd have hung in with the group I was with and my "what if thinking" says I'd a been up there with Christian and Bill for a top 15 finish... :-)