SCOLETRAIN

WORS Smokin Spoke Marathon
Another sufferfest once the Elite pack headed away from the start line. My first lap was so bad that it seemed like a bad training ride out on the trails riding solo with not all cylinders firing. I probably came pretty close to pulling out if it wasn't for Jarred and his Muddy Cup train coming up behind me and keeping me rolling through the campground as we headed out for lap two. My wife said that lap two was really slow, but at least it was a an improvement mentally over the first. Lap three and I was almost feeling competitive again as I started running down some blown up Elite's while suddenly getting taken down in the singletrack hard while politely negotiating slower racers from other classes. It was more of a shock to the system as I got slammed hard to the ground with my handlebar sticking me hard in the ribs just before I impacted the rock pile. After remounting and rolling slowly along with my tweaked h-bars and pissed off attitude, I finally got comfortable again and re-passed a number of racers who went by while I was on the ground. It's amazing what how you can ride when you get mad. The last lap was the best of the four and I could have honestly have done another if the race would have been longer. UCI Marathon events usually hit the 100k(62 miles) mark and that would satisfy my endurance mode just fine at this point in the season. To summarize the race: 20th overall, 3rd 40-44, 39 miles in 3:01:44. Thanks to Hayes Brake for the awesome brakes and also for getting me set up with the SUNringle Disco Flea disc wheelset. They rocked and rolled as they carried my old body to a respectable finish yesterday.