Deja-wreck

The new "Stealth" saddle from WTB so light you won't even realize its there-Caution when using this seat make sure your shorts have a chamois!


Well it was off to Columbus this morning for the GSC#6 FlatRock Race. I met Rick at TBS at O-dark 30 and headed out so we could get in a preride as neither one of us had run the course before. We arrived about 7am and set up the pop-up, talked to Bruce and headed out for our lap. It was a good thing we did because more than one rider would get confused about were the trail went and how many laps we were doing due to some of the changes that were thrown in. It was definitely a big ring course for the most part - fast and twisty with some sweet single track and just a bit of climbing thrown in for good measure. The start was tight we had two short sprints with a tight turn in between before we all bunched up on the single track. Being the "explosive" starter I am I decided to be smarter than I was at Dauset and wait until I got openings to make my passes and just settled in near the back of the pack. Well apparently that strategy is no good for me either, about a mile in there was a 3 foot tall ant hill- for lack of a better description, which caused a back up and as the rider in front of me stopped abruptly at the top of it I was stuck nearly vertical with nowhere to go but over - which I did. In the process I caught something with my seat which promptly snapped off the rails, which is better than breaking my seat post. I think I also tweaked the new XTR crankset because that was creaking from that point on thru the race, Charles is going to love seeing me this week. Anyway it takes me about 4-5min to figure out how to improvise the seat back on as well as put the chain back on meanwhile I get passed by the two waves that started after me before I get back out on the trail (this should be sounding familiar to some of my avid readers!). Surprisingly the seat stays put fairly well and I manage a half way decent pace, I finished the race sprinting it out with two other riders from the group and came back to finish 11th. The bad part was my time for the second lap we did was good enough to be top 5 and had I not wrecked I feel pretty confident I would have had a first lap within that group as well. Ron "The Phenom"Fields took mercy on us mere mortals and succumbed to technical difficulties I was looking forward to seeing him podium again, Rick took 9th in the beginner 40-49 age group and Jesse and Mark where both on there second lap on my way out. Jesse was looking good when I drove by clearing the rock wall with ease. Well I have a busy week ahead of me will probably only get one ride in this week before I head up to Michigan to spend the 4th with the wife's family. Plan on doing some riding up there at a place called Eygpt Valley, good trails kinda like Dauset. On the way back we will be coming down by Ellijay so we are going to time it so I can hit that race on the 8th of July and see if I can't get a race in without a wreck! So more than likely it will be a Wednesday ride at Thompson for me this week so if your out there I Will See You on the Trail!