Going into this I wasn't sure how I was going to do or if I was going to even make it, but in my mind there was nothing that could get in the way of me crossing that line just after 10 am on Sunday morning.
Thursday I had set up the canopy that both myself and Jim were pitting out of and was pretty happy with the area we had. Friday was a different story. Since I actually have to work Monday through Friday with no vacation to speak of till September, I found myself camping along the WORS leadout which lead to a lot of hauling the supplies the next morning and setting up before 10 am on Saturday.
When the gun went off I was stuck behind some dude that obviously has never ran in a pack like this before and looked like his limbs were detached as he was flailing them all over and for what to walk through the chute with me right on his heels anyway as he struggles to catch his breath...all I could think is wow is this early to blow up. So as I get further down the racks of bikes I can't help but wonder where is my Nitrous? There has got to be some easy way of finding your bike at the beginning, but moving right along I jumped on and found a hard yet smooth pace and settled in right from the get go put down three clean laps and refueled. Did two more then the same and so on through the night laps. I ended up falling down to 22nd but knew at some point people were going to drop for various reasons, this kind of race will do that to you, but I really don't know where it came from, but I developed heartburn so to the point where I wasn't sure if I was going to puke, take the browns to the super bowl, or it will go away in time and of course after braggin about how cycling doesn't affect my pitella tendonitis, it came on strong during the first night lap, but as long as I kept the cadence up and didn't apply too much force all was well, but at any rate, a 20 minute nap was good enough to get rid of it and so I changed into some Twin Six gear and back out I went. I ended up doing 13 laps finishing in 18th place for a first timer not to bad and I know now that I can push a lot harder, but I have a confession to make. I have never done a ride longer than 70 miles nor have I been riding that much at all during the month of July. I've had my wedding all of the classes that you go through with the pastor and so on and so forth. So next year I will actually prepare for something like this and earn a better result. My goal is to earn a top 8 cause most strive for top five or top ten I figure lucky number is a great number and I know that level is in me I just need things to fall into place and direct focus more towards my goals now that the time will allow for it. 363 days and counting.
Words can't express how I felt when I crossed the line or when posner gives you props as your about to complete a lap. This isn't something I would have imagined doing even 2 years ago as a citizen rider racing with both number tags on the front and back of my shirt at Iola in basketball shorts. I hope that this is only the beginning of something much bigger and I have so many people to thank so here it goes.
Turner Bikes for the flawless Nitrous. I only used one rig the whole time and it was money all over the course.
TwinSix for the great gear that isn't for the everyday soccer mom. I love the fact that they support "individuals" and strive to be unique. Probably the one company I could blindly point at a order form and say "one of those" knowing full well that it will be cool.
Crank Brothers for some eggbeaters that wont quit.
Spy Optic for keeping my contacts from gluing themselves to my retnas from the sun.
DV8 Clothing in Tomahawk for some seriously comfortable threads
Sammy's Subs in Tomahawk for great sandwhiches
And most importantly my wife Samantha, without her support and attention to detail there would be no story here and without Toni's help Sam wouldn't have stayed awake.
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