I was still recouping from the Down and Dirty race the weekend before at Warsaw. Pretty much went like this...
Took the holeshot out of 15 experts, some racer who I won't mention pulled a dick move causing me to wreck doing 20mph into a cedar tree, all the sport and ss class passes, I get up stumble around, get pissed, start raging, work my way back up to 2nd, flat, and end up 6th or so, 1st in the 19-29 only because Justin had two flats for the day. I felt good, but it was just one of those races.
I took the week off, and recovered. Somewhat. Still bruised and beaten a bit.
Friday Travis, Steve, and I headed to the STL for a pre ride of Castlewood. It rained crazy hard for 10 minutes when we showed up. Just enought to slick everything up real nice. The puncture from last weekend that I thought I had sealed came undone, causing me to put a tube in. The opening climb was bonkers, and I eventually opted to run a 34x20 instead of the 19. Figured it would be easier to spin faster instead of grind.
We had 14 Singlespeeders overall. Pretty stoked. Some super stiff comp, including Dan Miller, Dan Furhman, and a national champ Pro, Dejay Birch. Ya I pretty much figured he was going to dominate us all.
We take off, I can't climb for shit, my back wheel falls off at the top of the climb and I'm back off the front by 30 seconds. Pefucked! Manage to work hard and pass Nico from Team Segal and Dan F on the first doubletrack hill. I was raging nicely, and ended up behine Rock Wamsly, who pulled me along the rollercoster section. I noticed that Deejay was up in front and I yelled at Rock to catch "that dude". He did, and we made the pass. I was pretty stoked to be riding in front of a pro at this point.
Making the move on some experts.
It was hot. First lap was good, second lap was a little harder, and the third lap I developed a chain problem. I had popped the chain a few times during the race which didnt sound good. Guess it kinked a link, because on the last lap I dropped my chain 5 times. That was disheartning. I just kept thinking, great now Dan and Deejay are going to catch me. Well I rode like a bat out of hell on rollercoaster to make sure I gave myself extra time on the Grop hill. I noticed Dan F coming up on the last hill and buried myself. Then my chain came off again. I don't know how I held him off but I did. Came in 2nd.
First loser...
Not to bad though, I was happy with it all. I didn't have my climbing legs, which I normally do. Had I had, and had I not had dropped my chain 5 times, I might have been a threat to Dan Miller. As it was though, he beat me by 4 minutes. Super strong charger this year. Glad to see a good dude win it...
So ya, I guess I'm pretty much pro now. I mean Deejay is more of an endurance racer but a pros a pro. I don't think anyone thought we were taking him down, but three of us did. Both Dans and me. Guess Deejay wasn't used to the retarded high humidity we have here in Missery. It was crazy hot. Deejay was a cool dude though, definetly happy to have raced with him.
Travis had the stacked field of the day, he ended up 7th overall, and 6th in his class. Schottler won it. He's absolutely killing it right now. Steve had to pull due to the heat, along with a ton of other people. I don't really mind it, I can deal with it I guess.
Next up is Perry Lake, this Sunday. From the description, it sounds like a good course. Should be good for another 34x20 expert slaying session. I've been enjoying racing Expert on my SS this year. It's challenging, but rewarding. Knowing that I do what they do with one gear and do it just as well. Who knows, I may be a SS convict forever... RIP gears.
G
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