First up was a Vulture's Knob series race. I have not had good luck here so far this season and had high hopes for this race.
I got a great start and jumped into the lead going into the singletrack. I was feeling great and riding well and the top few of us had created a gap early in the race.
Then as fast as it started my race came to an end as I slashed a tire in the first stream crossing. I put a tube in and was able to continue but since I was so far back decided to DNF and save myself for the next day's race at East Fork................................................................................
.............. East Fork State park near Cincinnati is among my favorite courses. Probably the fastest course we race all season here in Ohio. It's a mostly flat singletrack loop with a bunch of high speed turns connected by a couple miles of road.On race day temps hovered near 90 under sunny skies. Humidity was not too bad. No rain recently left the trails dusty and fast, always a fun combination.
The race started on the road near the beach. I recognized Indiana Andy and Kentucky Tony as I lined up at the start, two hella fast racers from the nearby states.
As we set of up the first paved climb that begins the race I fell into line near the front. The park ranger was supposed to clear the road of traffic but apparently they missed this civilian on a hybrid as we overtook him early on the climb. Just as we passed him Indiana Andy attacked the climb, Kentucky Tony went with him and I was lucky enough to jump onto them as the 3 of us formed a small gap heading down the first few miles of road leading to the trail.
As we filed into the trail Kentucky took the lead and I grabbed onto Indiana's wheel as the 3 of us went flying through the woods. These guys were riding very fast and I was content to just follow them for the first lap. I noticed the air was hot, like a hair dryer and decided to be as conservative as possible so as not to burn out early.
Slowly Kentucky pulled away from us and I was undecided on whether to burn some matches and chase him, or bide my time and wait.
Just then Indiana went down hard right in front of me and I was in second all alone. I decided to chase Kentucky for about five minutes but he saw me coming and put in an effort to stay ahead. It was clear I was not going to catch him so I fell back into my racepace just as we entered the 2 mile road section again.
Indiana was coming up behind me now and eventually came around in front again. And now I could see Ohio Ben creeping up on us just as we began lap 2.
Midway through lap 2 Ben had caught us and it was the 3 of us cruising together. Ben passed me then Indiana crashed again, and it was Ben and I together now chasing the leader going into lap 3.
Lap 3 I was getting fatigued and could no longer hold onto Ben, he got a gap and I could see Indiana again behind me. Last lap! I just went with all I had trying to get to the finish.
Approaching the last 3 miles of trail I had 1st and 2nd in my sites then I carelessly monster trucked through the dry creek bed and heard the too familiar hiss of air leaking from my rear tire! No!!! I had worked so hard this race and raced so well to blow it now!
I continued on hoping my fresh sealant would plug the hole and it eventually did. I had just enough air to hold the tire off the rim but I had to be very careful in the corners. I could now only hold speed on smooth straight sections and with two miles to go I did my best to keep the bike upright and the tire on the rim.
I lost some time to first and second and almost got caught from behind but finally finished 3rd. This was a super exciting race and exactly the reason I keep coming back for more. 30 miles of racing and the top 4 finishers were within 90 seconds of each other!
THAT'S racing!
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