French
Creek
French Creek State Park, PA
May 10, 2008
By Travis Sapsford
Saturday was French
Creek, the second XC race of the MASS
and one of the more difficult race courses (technical
ability) in the season. Plus with the rain we've
had the previous two days things were set for
an interesting event.
While scouting out the start to the course (a
half mile long gravel climb) I saw Jason
heading out for his second lap, he did the five
hour endurance (man up) race. So with the "knowledge"
that I learned in my scouting session I lined
up for the Sport race.
Our race started fast (and by fast I mean an
all out sprint uphill for that half mile) but
even with the extra speed I was some how leading
the pack of wild animals behind me. But just
before we turn into the single track I was passed
by the rider that bet me at Greenbrier.... and
I still have no idea where he came from. But
100 meter's into the trail there was a set of
water bars (stairs) that he tried to ride up......and
let's just stay I passed him as he was laying
on the ground trying to figure out where he
was.
Five to ten minutes went by as I worked my way
thru traffic (previous classes) and even thou
I was red lined things were going well. That
is until I felt a rear tire "problem".......and
by problem I mean this......
....yeah,
Houston we have a problem. Even thou I was running
tubeless tires.......we had a flat tire. So
over the next few minutes I try to figure out
how bad things are.....is it flat, is it just
low, is it still losing air....WTF!!!!!! But
after hearing my rim bing on a couple of rocks
I know how bad things are....BAD, so I pull
over and shoot a CO2 into the dying girl (NASCAR
would have been proud...the "pitstop"
was less then three seconds.)
So with my "new" rear tire things
were fine.......for about ten minutes.....the
girl was still losing air, even after pitstop
round number two I was still nursing a dying
rear tire. But after a few more miles I hear
"it's only a half mile till the finish."
Low tire, flat tire, no tire I don't freaking
care, I'm finishing this....and after leading
the last hour plus I'm winning the thing. Things
worked out (meaning I did not need to start
running) and I won the race by 90 seconds.
In all it was a good day, a win for myself and
the wife pulled in a third place in her race
(therefore I got my man card back after losing
it two weeks ago.) Now it's two weeks off till
Granoque. Which again I think is going to be
a fight between myself and 3-4 other riders.....and
with that in mind, I'm going for a ride. ts
....yeah,
Houston we have a problem. Even thou I was running
tubeless tires.......we had a flat tire. So
over the next few minutes I try to figure out
how bad things are.....is it flat, is it just
low, is it still losing air....WTF!!!!!! But
after hearing my rim bing on a couple of rocks
I know how bad things are....BAD, so I pull
over and shoot a CO2 into the dying girl (NASCAR
would have been proud...the "pitstop"
was less then three seconds.)
