Too much work and training for Wilderness 101.
That being said, OMBC race just outside of Zanesville at the S&S Trails this past Sunday.
I showed up with time to spare, got dressed, and started to preride the course. It was awesome, super SS friendly with a few short steep climbs, a few longer grinders, and some screaming descents.
So feeling good, I take off the Lemans style start, which was pretty fun. I head into the singletrack with two guys in front of me, but no sweat, I'll reel 'em in on the climbs.
Well shit, on a descent, I was a little too amped up and wash out on a root. So much for getting in a groove and getting my heart rate down to a normal level. I scramble back on my bike and try to catch up with the first place dude.
So after finally catching him, I attack on a climb to try to open up a gap. All is well, and damn it's hot. I should drink some water.
I reach down to put my bottle back after a little sip, and what do you know; here comes a ton of technical stuff. I hit a root and go OTB. Great timing on my part.
I get up to see my handlebar not looking too hot... Shit. Thanks to Bob Myers for the snap.
So I hopped back on my bike and figured that since I was on my first lap, I could make it back to the line, grab another bike and finish up the race, if not, DNF was in my future.
Lo and behold, I got on my bike, and I had about a hand's worth of space on the bar between the stem and the bent part. Fuck it, I was going to give it a go.
The rest of the race was a torturous experience. Long gone was the leverage for climbing, so I found some sort of groove for some weird seated one armed climbing. The descents sucked, as I just had my rear brake and not as much control.
That being said, sure beats work :-)
Ended up still riding reasonably strong and ended up in Second Place Sport Senior. On to training for Wilderness, August 1st, and hopefully some cool snaps of some of the cool gravel roads I've been happening across.
