WORS 4; Shit Luck or Stupidity?

Camrock
Sunday June 17, 2012
by: Mark LaLonde

The results don’t tell the story of my race. I know these trails like the back of my hand. I ride at Camrock every Tuesday night. I put on the little guy, 36:18 for the large amount of climbing. I did the pedal miss a few times at the start before finding my way into the top 10 into the singletrack. I could immediately tell my front tire was too low. Maybe it was the 2.0 tire. I was pretty cautious but still managing to hold my own around 5th thru the first lap. Lap two, much of the same. Cautious singletrack riding, pulling a rider back. Lap three, catch 4th. Gapped him before getting caught behind lapped riders. He latches on as we run down 3rd place middle of lap 4. Last lap. Not much hope of catching 1/2. Leading out our group into the single track. Lights out, tire burp/fold and I go down hard on the concrete like dirt. So long battle for 3rd. Shoot some air in and back at it. Still a little low but manageable. 6/7 catch on and I let them by. Cant hold any speed in the corners. 2 miles to go, tire burp/fold and I go down for the 2nd time. Use the rest of my air to get the tire to about 15. OK, still manageble. I can make it 2 miles on 15 psi. 8th isn’t so bad. Make it up the switchback, then burp/flat out the front. No air and 1/2-3/4 mile to go. So I start running. A few more go by and I manage to hold onto 11th, riding a flat across the line. Not too happy with the end result, but knowing I was in the race for 3rd with 4 miles to go is some consolation. Setup: BBBB 29er 36:18 Bonty 29-1, 2.0 This weekend I give endurance racing a go with a crack at the Chequamegon 100.