Bake Shop

My first race of the '05 season was Saturday up at Fort Dodge. With temps continuing to rise over freezing the course was tricky. The first practice lap was mildy slick and from the first lap of the race thru lap 4 conditions deteriorated quickly. The course itself was 2 miles with about 1 mile of it on singletrack, the rest was on a paved bike trail or grass in the park. My first and 2nd lap were okay. On my 3rd time into the singletrack I quickly went by 5 or 6 guys alongside the trail "ungunking" the mud from their bikes. This was a sign of things to come. I made it nearly thru the singletrack before I too had to stop and start pushing.

My 4th lap was probably the toughest. I made it barely into the singletrack before my bike ceased to function. During this lap I spent about 30 mins pushing (wheels not rolling either) my bike thru the entire singletrack section. I finally made it thru and got back on and completed the lap. On my 5th and final lap I only made it about 20 feet into the trail and the bike just came to a stop. From here I couldn't get anything to move so I turned around and called it.

I'm still a little bummed at myself that I didn't finish but I still went longer than many guys who dropped out before me. My hats off to the few guys that were able to finish.