Rhetts Run ReCap

So the results show I'm not even good enough to be a mid-packer. Some say numbers don't lie, but these numbers don't exactly tell the whole story.

Lining up with 16 other Expert racers in your first big Expert race was different. It wasn't so much a sense of fun and joking around. These boys were here to throw down, and you could see it in their eyes. I'm about as serious as three dollar bill, so I did my best to put my game face on and look intemadating. I don't think they flinched...

3... 2... 1... and we're off. Damn that's a fast start. I end up mid-pack, right where I wanted to be. Somehow got stuck behind a slower rider who let the front of the pack race off into the distance. I ask to pass on a hill, he obliges. Thank you whomever you may have been.

It was a ridiculous pace, I was riding at limit, and it felt great. I caught up to Mike Best somewhere about halfway through lap one. I'm riding to good I thought. Mike should be way ahead by now, but I guess he was having a rough start. I rode with him for most of lap two, and then passed him towards the end. Halfway through the race, and I'm holding down 5th place. Dizzamn I thought, I might just top 5 it, which I thought would be a ice cubes chance in hell...

Feeling good, come up on another rider and as I try to pass I slip up on a log creek crossing, go mid-superman, manage to land back on the saddle, but crush a nut. That shit hurt something serious. It took the wind out of me, as my sails burned to the ground. It took a minute to regroup and refind that left testicle, but it eventually re-apeared and I was in better spirits.

I was riding alright, feeling the pain a bit, when I come up to a rocky sections in lap three. I guess I came in a little too hot and a little too off center, cause I burped my tire real good spewing stans out, and loosing all my air. I didn't know if it was a cut or a big ass burp so I made the decision to throw a tube in it and call it good. I don't know how much time I lost but that pretty much set the pace for the rest of the race. I got passed by a big group of people, some of which I knew were in my race and some who were not. I got it aired back up and started turning cranks again.

I never really got it working again, that was pretty much the end of it for me. Looking back on it, I feel like a big pussy for not digging in and driving myself into the ground on lap 4. I guess I figured I'd save some for the next day and not loose another day of training to a race that I had no chance of winning. I finished lap four with a sad ass time, 1 hour and 44 minutes. I had hoped for a sub 1:35. I could have had it...

So that's the story of my first real Expert race, and I'm pleased. I now know I have what it takes, I just need to tweak a few things, and work on a few areas. Live and learn they say, and I was learned during this race.

Thanks for to the volunteers and the race promoters for putting on a good race. I don't care what everyone else says about you all... I guess there was some kahoots with the timing. Shit happens, get over it.

Next up is the second race in the Warsaw series, Father Day the 21st. Then its back to Sac River for the first time in 3 years... Maybe Sac will be better to my sack. I'm never going to be able to have babies...