This past weekend was the Tsali xc race. It was on the national calendar and would probably be the biggest race in the Southeast. I was excited and ready for the race, the weather was perfect, I had support there (mom, Pam, Dave, Phil, Karen, etc.) and Clayton from American Classic was there to demo some wheels.
The start was a few minutes late, but no big deal. I had almost zero nerves for the start, I was totally calm. I was looking forward to the new route and dry conditions. There were 25 people in my class adding to the hype of the race.
We started up the road and people were sprinting like it was a 1 mile race. I let them go knowing that I knew the trail, where to catch up, where to pass, and where I could recover (if ever at Tsali). We hit the singletrack and ran into a small bottleneck meaning some of the guys sprinted for no reason. I let one of the guys that I usually race with know that I knew the trail and I would take him with me, he let me go by and I hit the gas. I caught 3 more guys within 1/2 mile, 1 looked like he already popped (shouldn't have sprinted). I could see the next 5 guys and it was on. I was keeping a steady but fast pace and was closing the gap to the next rider, on the first hill I closed half the distance and on the next little one I nailed the gap shut, I knew where I could go around, so I followed the guys downhill.
When I got to the bottom, I saw a puddle. I was going too fast to try and go around, so I tried to bunny hop it, bad mistake. It was deeper than I thought and I cased the backside of it. My handlebars snapped and I was on the ground. My day was done. I walked back to the start and tried think of the positives, but was truly disappointed. Super fast and nothing to show for it, except 30 or so scabs, 4 giant bruises and a broken bar. It was an awesome 2.5 miles though.
