My second race of the year was the Single speed championship Supreme put on by bike29.com/five hills bikes. They are cool. This year the field was a bit bigger, (16 total) and we started off pretty fast. My legs felt like lead, as I rode about 12 hours in the week that led up to the race. A four hour ride two days before may not, in hindsight, have been the best idea. But, I was able to hang on and keep the two leaders in sight, finishing third, and winning some sweet fruit-striped socks and a t-shirt. I was pretty happy.
The race this weekend was Willowdale in Ipswich. Very fun. A huge crowd showed up, with an estimate of 400 racers. This was my first "elite race" with the big boys. I chose the single speed to maximize the suffrage, which turned out to be a good choice. The course used some of the trails from a running race I have done, the "Stonecat" trail race. Unfortunately, the course didn't go by the car in the middle of the woods with the working horn and drunk locals cheering us on.
I did get a little too close to one of the trees, while passing a group of novice women, who laughed at my fish-belly colored ass as I passed.
The first lap I rode a bit conservatively, until I latched onto the wheel of a guy wearing sweet (pink) socks that said "I'm with awesome ^^^" They made me laugh. We wear moving along when I heard some rattling and remembered I forgot to fully tighten my rear quick release after I switched my gear before the race. Oops. Hopped off, tightened it and got back on . Rode the next lap trading off with the cool sock guy, then lost him on one of the fire roads. On the last lap I passed a lot of people with flats, and managed to stay flat free. I finished in tenth, just behind really fast single speeder Will Crissman, who also informed me he has read this loose collection of pictures and ramblings bringing the total readership up to three, if my mom still reads this.
OVerall a very fun race and I look forward to the Pinnacle.
