Originally planned I wasn't going to race thinking that taking nearly a full rest week with two nights of partying at Phish on Tues and Wed wasn't the best idea but after doing a few laps there couldn't resist. It was going to be a hard, hot race and I thought it suited me.
Took Mon-Wed completely off and did a little too much partying. Felt pretty good and rode a few hours on Thurs after work and then another easy hour on Friday. Sat morning I did another few hours with a few efforts and then the tired hit me and I was couch locked all afternoon watching the Olympic Road Race. Sun morning was still pretty tired but got a good warm up in and was psyched there were some fast dudes there.
Not sure how I feel about the downhill start but I took the hole shot and my plan was to try to hit the top of the climb first so I wouldn't get gapped on the downhill. I had things pretty strung out right away but it wasn't until near the top of the climb that any gaps opened up and then Jimmy, Tom and Will latched on for the downhill. Things were far different at race pace and when we took the drop at the bottom I was amazed and how fast we went over it. Could have been bad news.
After the descent I realized I had lost my nutrition bottle, which was somewhat of a problem, but I had a bottle with water and extra gels so wasn't too worried.
On the climb up to the lot I was able to gap both Tom and Jimmy and will was gone. I think I probably had 5-10 seconds on them which I lost on the descent. The three of us were riding the bottoms/tech sections more or less together when I nailed something with my rear wheel sometime around the bottom. Immediately I thought I had broken my rim but it was just a big burp which I tried to keep riding thinking I might be able to get to the start finish and use a pump which would save me time. The tire kept losing pressure and I was forced to stop and try to CO2 it. First time using this since I bought the MTB and it blew a rubber seal or something and all the air came out at once. Tried to ride a bit more and the tire came unseated. Jog/walked to the finish, tried to reseat to see if I could catch a few people but no such luck. Game over.
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