Endurance Series Finale

Chainbuster Finale
This past weekend was the finale for the Chainbuster Endurance Series. The race was held at Jackrabbit recreational area in Hayesville, NC.

The weekend began Friday evening as my road teammate Adam and I went over to set up. We arrived at the venue and made some small talk with other racers and Kenny, the promoter. We set up the tent and hopped back in the car to get a good night’s rest back in Franklin at my friend’s house. We arrived at Pam and Dave’s house and had some awesome homemade Lasagna and some brownies for dessert (Adam liked them). They had an entire room ready for us, and made a pre-race stay away from home as good as it can get (thank you so much).

Adam and I both got up early and got ready, Pam made us some turnovers for breakfast and some homemade mochas. We headed toward the venue and arrived around 8:30 where my mom (pit crew) and Erica were waiting on us. We unloaded the rest of our stuff and started with the whole pre-race routine (getting numbers, getting changed, warm up, etc.)

The weather was a little cool at the start but not too bad. The race had a .5 mile start on the pavement to try and open things up before the start, so we started like a crit, yay! There were the usual bottlenecks when we first got to the singletrack, but things kept moving. I stayed steady m first two laps and felt good. I had it in my head that I had to finish no worse that 4 spots behind 4th in the overall to keep my podium spot. I was calm about that though because this course would favor me and I hadn’t had to worry about finishing that far back too much all year. But on lap 3, it all started coming apart. As I was cruising around for another lap, I went to pass another rider and destroyed my entire drivetrain. I stood on the pedals and busted my big chainring, I couldn’t believe it, I shifted into the small ring to keep rolling, but now the chain and cassette decided to not work, WHAT ARE YOU KIDDING? I limped in on the bike for the last 3 miles and grabbed my single speed to just try and hold on for the rest of the race. Now, I was starting to panic. I had fallen to last somewhere between laps 3 and 5 and felt my overall slipping away. I then learned that 4th in the overall (Robi) had moved up to 2nd. Now, I was really panicking. I knew that on a single speed on this course I would be losing time every lap to the leaders, but I didn’t care about that, I was cheering for Adam more than anyone else (if he held first I would be safe, even if I didn’t move up). I pedaled the next few hours until my knees felt like they were going to pop; I needed to just spin for 1 lap, but with a ss that wasn’t possible. Darkness came and so did the countdown to the end. I was back up into 5th, but still did not feel safe at all. Somehow my chain managed to work its way off (REALLY, ON A SINGLESPEED, COME ON, GIVE ME A BREAK), and I was feeling like my spirit was getting beat up every time I thought things might go my way for just a minute. I rode my last 2 laps with all that I had left and looked forward to just finishing up. I saw the last mile marker and a big feeling of relief came over me, then I was upside down rolling down the trail, of course that had to happen today with less than a ¼ mile to go, I had to be bloody to finish off this race. (Did I mention that during the race that I was stung on my forehead and my right eye wanted to swell shut?)
Somehow I held on to 5th and Adam won in dominating fashion, which kept me securely in 3rd for the overall. It made the whole day worth, even though I didn’t think that I would survive the race, much less be able to worry about position.


It has been a great year and I want to thank;

My wife Lindsay
Mom and Dad for their part time pit support
Pam and Dave
My Velosports team mates
Chumba
American Classic
Kenda
Race Face
Crank Brothers
First Endurance
Honey Stinger
ESI Grips
Rudy Project
661
Albabici (Selle SMP)
Hayes / Manitou