They were Good Times, They were Flat Times

Sorry for the late race report, I totally forgot to type one up till now. This is for Ocup 5 at Buckwallow.

I'll skip all the Saturday activities prior to the race on Sunday, as it was the usual - visit a brewery, preride course, drink a few beers, go out for dinner, have some more beers, go to bed.

Sunday morning we arrived in time for Amy to get warmed up before her 9:30 race. I watched her start, and come through for her second lap. Isabel came to see the start of the race; she is a OPP officer working in the area, so Chico made sure everyone know there was OPP on site, so watch your speed out there.

After Amy started her 2nd lap, I headed back to the truck to get ready and go warm up. There is a nice long road beside the race course, so Deny and road out and back on that for about 1/2hr to warm up the legs. It was pretty hot out, and one of the things I like to do to cool off abit is to stick ice cubes in my helmet vents. So after the warmup, I headed back to the truck to get some ice cubes, and I downed a 5hr Energy drink for good measure.

I get to the start pen about 10 min before start time and like always I am at the back of the pen cause everone else is already there. No big deal, I usually can't match the start pace of my group anyways. Chico says Go and we are off on the double track at Buckwallow. There was no major climb at the start like most OCups, and I find myself cruising past a bunch of riders - wow this is different for me this year I think. Keep Going! So we hit the first bit of singletrack and we are all strung out single file (there were about 27 guys in my group I think). I am cruising along passing a few guys and trying to keep ahead of this one guy behind me whom I could not shake off. The course is pretty rocky and rough, but nothing I am not used to as the trails in North Bay are simular. Anyways, I hit a rock going around a corner, and I burp my rear tire. Burping is when you are running a tubless tire setup, and the bead of the tire comes off the rim and lets a little bit of air out.. Dammit, it burped too much air and I had to pull over to fill it up. Zoom, Zoom, a bunch of guys pass me as I pull out my CO2 cartridge and shoot some air into the tire. I get it filled up again, and I am pissed off. I start peddling like a mad man, realizing my legs are feeling pretty good. I pass all the guys who passed me again and I keep on truckin'. BURP! dammit, it happens again, I loose a bunch of air in my rear tire as it folds over on the rim. I pull over again, pull out my second CO2 cartridge (now I am glad I brought two!) and inflate my tire, needing about 1/2 the cartridge. I take a second to check the tire carefully cause its already burped twice now on me.. while I am doing this, all those guys pass me again. Tire is ok, I get going and now I am really pissed off.. and I pass all those guys again... Take note this happens all during my first of three laps.

I come through the feedzone, Amy gives me my water bottle of eLoad, and I tell her about my flats. Off I go 2nd lap determined to push as hard as I can to make up what time I can. 2nd lap goes great, nothing really to report.

I start the third lap, this time Jenn is in the feedzone. I am cruising along and about 1/2 way through the lap, I see Deny on the side of the trail - fixing his tire!  He asks if I have a Co2 cartridge - I give him my last one, which is 1/2 full and then I take off.. a few seconds later I hear a large "bang!" behind me - I guess Deny didn't get that tire inflated I think. I yell back to see if he is ok, but I couldnt make out his reply - it didnt sound positive anyways. Then about 5 minutes later, I see three guys ahead, whom I think are in my category.. I put a big effort into catching them before the next bit of singletrack, and I get by them. I drop into the track, go over a jump and land and my front tire folds and burps! wtf. seriously I've never had so many flats in one race before. Unfortuneatly, I gave away my tools to repair this flat, so I am SOL. So I figure, I am not gonna quit, I am all fired up from chasing racers down all day, I am gonna run the bike in. I thought I was closer to the end than I was, cause it seemed to take a long time to run that bike in. People were cheering me on as they passed me on their working bikes. I cracked a joke that my bike never felt so smooth on the trails. I didn't care if I came last or not, I was happy with how I felt and how I was racing, so regardless of my placing I was smiling.

I crossed the line 2nd last in my category - I beat one guy by 20 seconds. Sweet.

I am looking forward to the next OCup at Kelso.