Shock Stall

I suppose I should do a race report. I have done some racing, but nothing exceptional or even average. So here's what I've done so far.

May 31st- Rhinelander/Crystal Lake Classic
DNF in Open SS. With no real training I shouldn't have expected to finish. My lower back was giving me grief so I pulled the plug halfway through the first lap.

June 20th/21st- Mt Morris/Subaru Cup
DNF in Open SS XC. My back was fine, but my legs were dead. I wanted to suffer through anyway but the Fe+ had other ideas. A bent pin in the rear brake resulted in a pad dropping every few bumps. At first it was just noisy but it began to cause friction and literally a drag. As this is going on my rear tire pressure was too low resulting in burping of the tire. About halfway through the first lap I hit a corner and burped about half my 30 psi. The combination of the two had my mind made up to DNF. As I rolled around the corner to turn in my back tag at the finish chute the remaining pressure burped and I was on my rim.

4th in Open SS Super D. Not as grand as it sounds, there were only 4, still 90% of most things involve just showing up. Even then I showed up late. Don put me in with a later wave and I let them get in front of me so I wouldn't harsh their ride. 2/3rds of the way down my grip/hand/brake caught a tree and I shoulder planted into the ground. It mostly knocked the wind out of me but it took a minute to catch my breath. Oh yea, and somewhere on the trail I broke a spoke on the rear wheel. I didn't notice it until later that evening when I was unpacking the bike.

4th in Open SS Short track. Same as before but I showed up on time. I really like the course and I look forward to being in shape the next time I do Mt Morris.

July 5th- Eau Claire Firecracker
17th in Open SS XC. The heat wasn't a factor, my back was fine, I had a good gearing but I lacked conditioning. I hung onto the back of the field for most of the first lap and then I landed on my wrist in the Dr Jekyl & Mr Hyde section. It was fine for the rest of the race but it's swollen now and a bit stiff. No pain though. Half a lap later my legs bailed and I decided to survive the lack of strength and consider it a training ride. After looking at the results there was at least one person having as bad a day as me and he was on a multispeed roughly 2 minutes behind me. Still, he finished too.

Thanks to Kid Rock for fixing my brake. Thanks to Russell for counting laps. Thanks to Cupcake for saving a spot for the camper. Thanks to TmonT for the camaraderie. Thanks to lots of others for lots of other things.