Bake Shop

Iowa Games 2005

What a day for a race! It was 92 degrees and very humid. Jacob and got there early and checked out the Beginner race. Even just walking around we were sweating like crazy. I was stuck racing my single speed today since I didn’t have a front brake on my race bike.

At the start line it was me, two experts and Mike Lebeda another sport rider who would be duking it out. I knew I couldn’t hang with Donny and Kyle but I knew I could battle Mike for three laps and it should be close.

Mike and I watched Donny and Kyle tear off at the start and we stayed close going into the single track. The entire course at Peterson Pits is really flat so I wouldn’t have any climbs to try and get away. I stayed with him for ¾ of the first lap then I got hosed. A small stick jammed between my brake pad and rim on my front tire. This stopped me dead cold. Mike was able to get a nice gap on me now.

I knew I couldn’t blow all my energy this early trying to catch him so I just kept up a good pace and decided I would try and catch him on the third and final lap. I kept hammering away and caught a few other sport riders that started a few minutes before us single speeders. I felt pretty good knowing I caught a few of the sport riders.

On the 3^rd lap I kicked it up and started trying to catch Mike. About ½ way I finally caught site of him. My plan was to try and sprint it out with him. My hope was that he had worked too hard and wouldn’t have anything left. The rest of the way I could see him but I think he also spotted me and kicked his cadence up just enough to keep me at bay. Coming down the final stretch I could see I couldn’t catch him and I’d have to settle for fourth for the day. I had really hoped I could medal today and take 3^rd but I guess it wasn’t in the cards for me.

On the flip side it was pretty cool racing single speed. This was my first racing without gears and it was different. It definitely was a good challenge.