RNG1
Well-Known Member
Live and Learn
Dude, 3 flats has to get the award for persisitance, that's beats a win in my book.
First of all, well done to all for a great job putting on a great race even though the course seems to eat tires for breakfast. Mine was on the menu as well.(I'll get to that in a sec.) Thanks also to the nice on-site medical staff.(I'll get to that in another sec.)
I started the day not sure what to expect after doing a 45 mile road ride on sat morning that was intended to be an easy pre race spin before I ran into a few buddies of mine and ended up doing hillclimbs for bragging rights. Amazingly I felt great today and thought I was having the race of my life feeling strong and just kept jacking up the pace until about 2/3 through the last lap when I burped out about 1/2 the air in my front tire. I managed to finish the section without going down (I wonder who the guy was behind me that yelled "DUUUUUUDE that was an amazing save!!!") Well, this was the critical point where I made the SHMUCK decision of the day and thought that there couldn't be much further to go and I was pretty sure I was going to place, so rather than taking the second to try and co2 my tire back up decided I could finish the race with 5lbs of pressure in my front tire. I know, that is why I used capital letters for SHMUCK. Sure enough the next section where I needed any traction at all, I went down hard with the same unknown guy with the previous compliment asking me if I was ok. Thanks bro. I knew right away something bad happened to my left thumb. I also now had no pressure in the front tire and had no way to stick a tube in as I was down to one hand, and I knew that even if I could change it I couldn't ride without possibly doing a lot more damage to myself. So I did what anybody who goes for the persistance award does and started running my ass off. The only problem was that with the course adding the extra stuff at the beginning I completely lost my bearings and had no idea how far I was going to have to run. So I ran and ran and ran much like Forrest Gump for what seemed like at least a couple of miles and watched my hard earned lead dissappear with every rider that went by. The good news I discovered is that my rib that I broke at the Wayway race no longer hurts when I run. At one point I actually was running on my own for a while without seeing anyone and remembered the announcement at the start that a bear was seen at the race. I was thinking wow now that would be really be something to deal with right now. Fortunately no bears but I did get the nice lady with the swiss army jersey to see if I needed medical attention and she suggested I get off the trail up ahead and take a short cut back to the start area. She did not understand that there is still an invisible persistance award, anyway I said thanks but no thanks and continued with my Forrest gump impression to the finish. Thanks to Justin for the encouragement in the last stretch and everyone who cheered. As for the medical attention, thanks again for the help by everyone including Kirt's freind (I suck at names). I'll know hopefully what the exact story is tomorrow, my instincts are telling me I separated the ligament or tendon from the bone as the hard parts feel intact. It is already a nice navy blue and hurts like a bastard. Yeah I know it is only a thumb but i only have 2 and I need them both. Anyway now I have another fish story about the one that got away that I can tell while I look at my invisible award on my shelf. In life there are the Deion Sanders types who do it with talent but with lots of flash, and then there are the Walter Paytons who don't make it look pretty but they get it done, neither is better than the other but I know which one I personally have a greater respect for.
By the way I know I tend to go on and on but these raw excerpts are part of an article that I am planning to put together at the end of the season about my experiences of returning to racing. I apologize if it seems self indulgent and if people feel it is a bit much. If so, let me know and I will keep the bulk down and save it for the article. Funny note: when I got home my wife said that she thinks I should go back to doing something safer like riding my motorcycle!.
Dude, 3 flats has to get the award for persisitance, that's beats a win in my book.
First of all, well done to all for a great job putting on a great race even though the course seems to eat tires for breakfast. Mine was on the menu as well.(I'll get to that in a sec.) Thanks also to the nice on-site medical staff.(I'll get to that in another sec.)
I started the day not sure what to expect after doing a 45 mile road ride on sat morning that was intended to be an easy pre race spin before I ran into a few buddies of mine and ended up doing hillclimbs for bragging rights. Amazingly I felt great today and thought I was having the race of my life feeling strong and just kept jacking up the pace until about 2/3 through the last lap when I burped out about 1/2 the air in my front tire. I managed to finish the section without going down (I wonder who the guy was behind me that yelled "DUUUUUUDE that was an amazing save!!!") Well, this was the critical point where I made the SHMUCK decision of the day and thought that there couldn't be much further to go and I was pretty sure I was going to place, so rather than taking the second to try and co2 my tire back up decided I could finish the race with 5lbs of pressure in my front tire. I know, that is why I used capital letters for SHMUCK. Sure enough the next section where I needed any traction at all, I went down hard with the same unknown guy with the previous compliment asking me if I was ok. Thanks bro. I knew right away something bad happened to my left thumb. I also now had no pressure in the front tire and had no way to stick a tube in as I was down to one hand, and I knew that even if I could change it I couldn't ride without possibly doing a lot more damage to myself. So I did what anybody who goes for the persistance award does and started running my ass off. The only problem was that with the course adding the extra stuff at the beginning I completely lost my bearings and had no idea how far I was going to have to run. So I ran and ran and ran much like Forrest Gump for what seemed like at least a couple of miles and watched my hard earned lead dissappear with every rider that went by. The good news I discovered is that my rib that I broke at the Wayway race no longer hurts when I run. At one point I actually was running on my own for a while without seeing anyone and remembered the announcement at the start that a bear was seen at the race. I was thinking wow now that would be really be something to deal with right now. Fortunately no bears but I did get the nice lady with the swiss army jersey to see if I needed medical attention and she suggested I get off the trail up ahead and take a short cut back to the start area. She did not understand that there is still an invisible persistance award, anyway I said thanks but no thanks and continued with my Forrest gump impression to the finish. Thanks to Justin for the encouragement in the last stretch and everyone who cheered. As for the medical attention, thanks again for the help by everyone including Kirt's freind (I suck at names). I'll know hopefully what the exact story is tomorrow, my instincts are telling me I separated the ligament or tendon from the bone as the hard parts feel intact. It is already a nice navy blue and hurts like a bastard. Yeah I know it is only a thumb but i only have 2 and I need them both. Anyway now I have another fish story about the one that got away that I can tell while I look at my invisible award on my shelf. In life there are the Deion Sanders types who do it with talent but with lots of flash, and then there are the Walter Paytons who don't make it look pretty but they get it done, neither is better than the other but I know which one I personally have a greater respect for.
By the way I know I tend to go on and on but these raw excerpts are part of an article that I am planning to put together at the end of the season about my experiences of returning to racing. I apologize if it seems self indulgent and if people feel it is a bit much. If so, let me know and I will keep the bulk down and save it for the article. Funny note: when I got home my wife said that she thinks I should go back to doing something safer like riding my motorcycle!.
i also have killer allergies that stopped me from taking photographs, quite bummed.
