The Yankee Springs Time Trial has been a perennial Spring favorite for the Michigan mountain bike race scene for years and stands right behind Iceman in attendance and popularity. The event was sponsored by the Western Chapter of the Michigan Mountain Bike Association (MMBA). This year did not disappoint as over 575 racers entered this 11 mile singletrack Time Trail. Conditions were ideal with sunny skies and warm, dry conditions. The organizers mixed it up on race day and reversed the course direction. This trail is designated one-way and reversing directions gave the trail a whole new dimension. Some folks were pretty upset over the change but I thought it was pretty cool. I was racing Expert Singlespeed and managed to miss my start time so they slipped me in with the Sport SS. No problem. I lost my only water bottle after hitting a bump in the first 100 yards. I thought, no problem. I can survive 50 minutes without water. About 4 miles in I heard a loud creak come from the rear hub and knew there was a problem with the tension on the chain. For the next 7 miles I tossed my chain off at least 10 times. In between those times I was feeling great, passing riders and ripping the trail. Once the chain would come off, the train of passed riders would blow past. At this point, I was getting desperate and considered picking up the next water bottle I saw laying on the trail to get some fluid in me but quickly dismissed the idea. On the final kick to the finish my chain flew off one final time and wedged so tight I had to run the final 100 yards to the finish. It was a frustrating experience although I felt great as well. My time was 1:03.00 which placed me last in my group. I'll put this behind me and move on to the next race at Fort Custer, May 4.
Finish:
2 comments:
Great race story! I think you should have a contest to caption that second photo.
Great idea. Thinking back, I'm pretty sure most of what was being said was not very nice. I'll have to work on those "lead by example" skills.
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