Sunday, February 12, 2012

Leechtown



Today was the first of which I hope are many, Leechtown races.
For those of you not familiar with what or where Leechtown is, take a look.

 In my usual procrastinating way I decided to build my Masi SS late last night for the "race." I figured that a SS would be safe as most of the @stuckylife guys run singles. Man was I surprised when the only two SS ( not including the fixies) were Pro city boys, Colin being the other. Well, no refunds so nut up and enjoy the hurt!



 I think there were about 26 people out which for a gloomy Sunday is frigging awesome. Good to see Tanya out after nuking her elbow at The Ricky Bobby. It was set up Neutralized for the first 15k or so till Veterans Memorial and after that it was game on. As soon as we were off neutral it was giver. With a lot of road crossings for the next while i realized the single speeds only downfall was with all the yielding, it meant a lot of accelerating. Well i do need work on my starts so take the positive right? It looked like from my vantage point near the rear that there were a few feeler attacks, but nothing really sustained. Myself, well i was just trying to hang on to wheels and figure out a good smooth cadence and not blow up super early. Hal went past me and tried to make a pull off the front and just at that moment a lady and her horse were leashing along the goose, and let me tell you she was none to happy about our fun little event . Yelling at us as we went by, not like you can hear much at 40km an hour. Does anyone else know that the goose was created for people to leash their horses along? ya, I didn't think so either so her day was apparently ruined. DAMNED CYCLISTS.
After the peloton strung out and kinda relaxed the muscles a little i was able to sit in and wipe the snot off my face long enough to grab a drink and recoup my HR. if you have been out that way you know that there are a few descents to road followed by turning steep accents right after. Well, the speed and tire sizes were not conducive for great traction today as at the first one we had our first wreck. At the bottom of the re entry to trail our man Clay decided he would try and turn at speed, on wet leaves, and make the climb. Well when I went by he was just sliding to a stop and scampering up the hill, no harm no foul., and sorry mate, i ain't stopping. a quick yell and I assumed he was ok.
Very shortly after that the front of the group slowly started to turn the screws and create a gap, but what happened nextIi am not to sure as about as it happened fast and i can't really recall the deets. Its kind alike this: Scott, Mitch and Colin were ahead 3 abreast switching off and as Mitch let Scott pull through i think he misjudged the speed and spacing and all i heard was "TING" and then ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE!! Has anyone seen Bad Boys 2 were the miami highway looks like cars are jumping into the sky? well thats what Mitch's bike did as he high sided and drove his head into the ground. By the time it landed, Mitch was gone, Colin was down and i was bunny hopping ( hal says very poorly) over Colin's bike. Thankfully spacing was such that none else got tangled in and good thing as Tanya was close behind and I am not sure the elbow pad would helped much. I could not see Mitch from the road and as I came closer to "The Scene " I saw him head down the hill on his back in like a tree hammock, but waaaaay less comfy! We were nice enough to give him a minute to recoup his thoughts before we helped him out. And when we did you could see the destruction. His pump had sheered through his jersey and vest and was conveniently sitting handle exposed to the outside world. The kit now has many little holes and much dirt on it as well. I have seen Mitch wipeout pretty good before e but this was the worst.
We took 5 and made sure he was ok, as his helmet was now cracked, and then we slowly started back up the path. by this time the split was gone so i took up the pull and tried to keep Mitch from getting to rambunctious. He tried a pull for a bit and seemed ok so i got out front and tried to drive us back to at least respectability. I am not sure who was back there cause i was trying to gut myself to make time. Felt like we were cooking but we actually were probably just cruising. We passed Michael at one of the road crossings and he said five minutes down with about 15km to go so I really thought if we kept pushing we may close the gap down. shortly after that though, sadly for me, i got a little soft in the back end just before the last long trestle. I yelled out "flat" and told them to keep going that i would be fine. Colin stopped with me as i think the hip was starting to get a little tender. With a qr i could changed it lickity split but 15mm nuts take a lil more time. My race was over, but i would change and carry on, a few more went past and made sure i was ok and then low and behold look who rolls up....Jon Johnson. Apparently he met at the Trestle, not the switch bridge and said that even at the wrong bridge he was late. haha, oh jonjon. I thought great, 3 people working back as a group would be good, Eiry even pulled up as well so we could mellow the last 10km. nope. ole JJ had ideas of his own, hahah, he started dropping Colin and I and then yo yoing a couple times before taking off. oh well, i made for the last 6 k or so I had Colin sit on my wheel and rode with him to the finish. Bummer flat, but am glad i was able to change it and finish. I wonder if we woulda been able to close the gap if I hadn't.

 Big box of beer at the finish and a lot of very pooped and tired faces. I decided to ride back with Jamie so after a potty break and an espresso courtesy of Michael Achuff we were off, back down that hellish dirty road we had just travelled up, but way more mellow.
I would like to thank Clayton Webb, Haldor Gunnerson , Parker bloom as well as Micahel and Angus who drove support for the race. Sorry if i forgot anyone. It was a rad event and I really hope you do another one!! It will probably take me a year to recover from that one. garmin deets Cheers


PS
Jamie won:






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