Stark Velo and Brooklyn CX

Stark Velo race went pretty well. My place in the single speed pecking order moved up by two, which I would say is a win. The course was similar to the previous year's, a grass crit course with long power sections, not too technical. Watching John Proppe win the A race was amazing. It was very exciting to see a new face shake up the other wise 4 usual names. Magz and I did Canton romantic getaway 2.0 by getting a room at the luxurious airport Hilton, and dinner at Bender's. Bender's was pretty damn good I would certainly go back there.

Brooklyn would have been the perfect race. It was beyond muddy. So thick was the course in some parts that long sections had to run. It was my impression and as the first 3/4 of lap one proved this was the course for me. Luck, however, had other plans. The Single Speeders start about two minutes behind the b1 group. The b1 is comprised of 35+ (age) B racers. These guys, even though technically are in a completely different category than the Single Speeders really fight you for every turn, and won't let you pass. Normally I start catching the b1 group about half way through the second lap. At Brooklyn we (the Single Speeders) were catching the b1 group half way through the first lap. I had a great position, and then my front wheel flatted. I don't bring spares to the race, so I was SOL. I rode my flatted bike a little further then gave up and walked. I was walking my bike back down the course when I was passed by team mate Guy Singer. He told me he was dropping out of the race. I said hey there gimme your front wheel, we'll trade. So he did, and in possibly a not so race legal swap I was back in the race.(we were near the pit, does that count? and my walking never cut any of the course) Only now, the wheel Guy gave me was too big to provide any good clearance, and my bike was too mudded up for me to get the front brake back on the cantilevers. I had to stop at least 10 times to roll my bike backwards and pick giant softball sized chucks of mud our from the my front fork to keep myself from endoing, and had to take all turns with one leg out, unclipped, as I only had a rear brake. The awesome folks at snake bite racing provided time splits per lap. I had a 14 minute first lap and an 11 minute second lap a 12 minutes third lap and a 13 minutes fourth lap (I wrecked pretty bad at the bottom of a hill on the fourth lap. Catching my breath and getting the rig back together took sometime out of me). boo