Landmind Classic, Higham, MA, 9/13/09
Boy was I looking forwards to this race. After the US Cup, this is the biggest race. Not only because of the huge annual turnout, the epic 26 miles technical race, or the GT Golden bike award, but also because cat 2 and cat 1 race the same course and distance. This is the time where I would get to see where I would place if raced cat 1. This is the humbling moment.
Well the start went well, and unlike last year, I got there w/ plenty of time (kinda of) and was able to get some warm up before the start. W/in the first three miles I was able to claw my way into first position and was feeling pretty good. Sadly, after I caught some air coming off a bridge, I landed right on a sharp rock w/ my front wheel. The moment I heard the metal sound I knew this was not good and was expecting to flat. Somehow my tire held air for about a mile. It was just a tease though as it then suddenly went flat. I had a spare tube and though got caught by everyone as I was changing it, I knew the race was long, perhaps affording me a chance to catch back up w/ some. As I got the spare tube in, inflated it, it went flat right away. At that time I also noticed the serious wobble in my front wheel and the fact the rim edges were bend in.
It was a long freaking walk back to the start. A nice rider handed me a tube which held and I was able to ride the last mile to the car. One DNF for me. People say better DNF than DFL, but at least when you DFL you get to ride the whole course, so I"ll take a DFL any day over a DNF!
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