Pffffft

well, my luck had to run out. not only have i not had a flat on my mountian bike in 6 months or so, but i haven't had a flat in a race in years. luckily for me, it was only a castlewood training race.

training race or not, i'm always out to win. there were tons of guys that showed up tonight...i think there were at least 20 people in the A race. i rolled out hard, seeing if i could stay ahead of ploch. that didn't happen. he pulled ahead, and i lost about 20 seconds in the first lap. i had at least 30 seconds on the 3/4th place guys. as i came across the start finish area, i noticed that the rear tire was squishy. great. but, it had about 5lbs in it, enough to keep the rim off the ground. what the heck? i kept going. i climbed lone wolf and saw ploch ahead. i wouldn't be able to go any faster, but i wanted to see how long i could stay ahead of the guys behind. i made it to the bottom of lone wolf, having to pick my way down slowly before i got caught. then, i kept them right in front of me as we climbed love trail. it was getting hard, though. finally, i had to let go. but it was another couple of minutes before more guys caught me. i threw in the towel and took reis road back down to my car.

i hate mechanicals of any kind. if i'm going to lose a race, i want to lose it because i'm not good enough, not because of equipment. i did, however, get to see where i am at fitness wise off-road, and i am not disappointed.