Last Sunday, the wife (Carrie), the friend (Adam Newman) & I drove from Destin, FL to Montgomery for the AL State CX champs. We arrived at Fain Park to find a hill, lots of 180's, some mud and two run-ups.
Adam raced first in the B's and did much better than the previous day in Tally. After a few laps I handed off the pit responsibilities to my dad, who came down from the Ham to watch and help, so that I could get ready. Here's where I made my first mistake. Always pre-ride the course! Here's why.
The first lap of my race was fine. I was in contact with the first group and sitting in about 4th or 5th comfortably, which was my plan. On the second lap, I was approaching the mud pit and decided to take, what I thought, was a more conservative line. I was very wrong. As I cut across the mud, my rear wheel caught one of the ruts and put me down on my left side. Normally in cross, you expect to go down a couple of times, so I got up and went to remount my bike. The rear wheel wouldn't move at all. Also, my right brake wouldn't move. So I released the quick release on the brake and rode to the pit with only a front brake. I lost at least 1 or 2 minutes trying to get going. I grabbed my spare bike and went on hopping to get my main bike back after Adam and my dad got it working. Well this never happened.
Turns out the rear right seat stay failed going through some ruts in the mud and I went down! It really sucks because I really loved that bike. Fortunately none of my support crew told me this during the race b/c they knew I'd be pissed. After several bike exchanges, including one onto Adams bike (which has the brakes switched), I finally realized that I was MINUTES off the next guy and I was dead last! My crew was able to accommodate my request for a beer while riding and this became my secret weapon.
I caught three guys in the last two laps and ended up 5th place. Photo's are to come
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