Alum Creek Race; Another Medal For Tookie.

The rain on Friday was pretty bad. Nobody really knew if the race would still even be on since Phase 1 trail is lower than Death Valley, and tends to get quite snotty with mud after the lightest rain. Recent trail improvements however proved well designed, as just 24 hours later the course was fast and tacky. Jeff drove up from Kentucky Saturday night and we got straight to work rebuilding his old 29er for his daughter, and Sean C. was ready to go..so we all met up Sunday morning and the race was on!

It's Fall here now, so the morning saw lots of bundled up warm-up rides in the parking lot. Jeff and I of course are the size of the Graf Zeppelin, so we were in shorts and jerseys only. The race horn blew at 11 a.m., and it was on!  I was set up in the trees on lap 1,

 and saw Sean leading his group out with a long train behind him. Once out onto the street, I think that may have been the end of his lead-out..turns out never shifting out of your big ring in tight, rooty, twist singletrack may not have abeen a stellar plan. Jeff rolled through shortly after in the Meatball Category. He would fight back and forth relentlessly, eventually pasisng Sean on lap 2 and driving it on home..squeeking the finish line for 3rd place by less than 10 seconds.

I waited for Sean's last lap final section and rode with him out..and across the loooong dam into a headwind until he was on the final stretch. Such a beautiful day for so much pain..:)  No injuries and no mechanicals for anyone to deal with is always a relief, and Kenda tires (Small Block 8/Blue Groove combo for Sean, and Slant 6 front and rear for Jeff) killed it.

The Xpedo pedals as usual had no binding issues in the occasional mud hole. Jeff's Hydrapak served him well, as reaching for bottles is almost impossible on the trail here. HUGE thanks to Amino Vital, which kept the boys cramp free on such a cold dry day with so much beat-down on the rootfest at Alum Creek.  My new pad-reach-adjuster dial on the Formula R-1's was SICK...and the bank of SIGMA computers kept everyone's cadence on the real-real. One more in the books ya'll..see ya in a  couple of weeks!


**Big thanks to my Best Woman Lauren Lichtenauer for allowing me to lick her head.**