Race turned Track meet

As is visible below things in Lake Geneva could have been better. The first 2 1/2 laps were fine. The 32x22 gearing was perfect and as predicted slower and lapped traffic was an issue but the gearing help make it managable. 10th place looking very doable and disaster struck. You know those little saplings that are cut away leaving a mini-stump about 3 inches high? Well, today's race was the first at this new venue at the old PlayBoy Club, so there were too many of those things to count. Overall the trail was great, but I managed to clip one of those mini-stumps with half a lap to go. It acted like a tire lever and off came the bead of the rear tire and the tube popped out bringing the bike to a stop. I grabbed the valve stem and started to let the air out in the hopes I could get going again. It took forever to get deflated enough to put back inside the tire and by then Rob, Greg and a few other SS's came and went. I like the guys on SS's. They all asked the same question. "Are you okay?" Young Greg even asked If I needed anything. Just a CO2 cartridge. I ripped off my frame pump and got to work. I grew impatient and gave up on the pump. I started riding with what must have been 10psi and it lasted 100 feet before the tube was out again only this time it wrapped around the rear hub and in between the cog and chain. So I reseated the tire and started running and riding. I figured I'd try to salvage a placing, which I did... second to last, but only 14 minutes behind 1st place. Looking at the results I was running roughly 3 minutes behind Rich before disaster struck.

I did find amusement in the Multi's that caught me. Most of them simply noted the flat and commented "that sucks." But there were a few that were hilarious. On one ridable area a guy in the 40-44 group asked "did you know you have something caught in your chain? It looks like tube." I told him I hadn't noticed and let him pass. Another 40-44 guy commented "all you Singlespeeds should have to race with one flat tire. It's the only way I can keep up with you young guys." He didn't seem any happier when I told him my age. Another guy made the usual "that sucks" comment but asked what it was in my chain. When I told him it was my tube he said "most guys put the tube inside their tires. You might try that next time."


Away I went.

Yup, it's a fast start

John(Kittens) in the BKB kit being shown how to target fixate before a ridable downhill. I'm a couple of bikes behind off camera.

I didn't see this but I feel his pain.

Thanks to Rusty for the pics above.

After the race the weather changed. It had been 50 degrees all day but it started raining. A lot. The Comp/Elite race was going to get interesting. Jesse was doing well running in 2nd with Marco just behind. But on the 3rd (4th?) lap he was in first. I think the multi he was chasing became a Singlespeed and he couldn't adapt, or maybe he crashed. The mud was slippery enough it looked as though they were trying to ride across a floor covered in marbles.

I'm irritated the tire came off, but as I chanted to myself for 15 minutes after the race "that's racing." The IRC Mythos CX is a loose beaded tire... maybe I'll just get an the similar Bontrager I saw on the back of John's Rig. In two weeks I'll either ...
... get a CO2 cartridge set-up
... Stans
... do nothing

At least I didn't crash.