Look'n Mean at the Mass

Warming up and sporting the cross look. Riding the big wheel is making my legs huge....

Well I just finished putting the new axel on the trailer I pickup a couple weeks ago. Man it looks nice. I can’t wait to haul some junk on it. Maybe I’ll pickup an old mattress and haul it around for a while…

Yesterday was a blast, and not because it was “Blast the Mass”. It was a little hecktic getting there. It took me untill 1:00 am Saterday to get the Big Wheel in race shape. The broken seatpost was a pain in the ASS to remove and replace. But, I did get it together and with a 9:00am start time it wasn’t looking good. The alarm clock rang at 6:00 and we were on the way. As you can see in the picture I was still jamming breakfast down when I headed up to the line. Little did I know it was also the state championship too so all the hot shot where there. At least the ones that weren’t at Mount Snow.
The men’s Pro’s field went out, then the Women’s Pro’s followed by the Expert and SS class. I down loaded a part of the first lap so you can get idea of the profile. The blue line is Alt. red is my HR.....


















I’ll just say this course is brutal! It took me a 3hours and 18 to cover the 25.5 miles of 3-laps with about 8700’ of climbing. Sandy was a little luckier with only having to do 2-laps. But the gun went off and a way we go. The pace was slow as we headed up the mountain 500 meters from the starting line. Settling into my pace and up, up and up it went. The only problem I had was a Jerrod moment on the first downhill when I thought I was on a full suspension bike when it was fully ridged. Hitting a root at an angle going mock-2, it shot me strait into an aspen tree. Which put me in the back of the field. After pulling myself out of the woods and getting back on the bike. The chase was on. I was able to get it back together and pick up a couple of guys as the popped off the back. Using my cross skills to over take guys was huge advantage. I would run sections when others would try to ride and pop.... The first two laps were super hard but manageable. The third was a constant strugle just to keep the cranks moving. I don’t know how many times I wanted to quit. But as I would ride past someone or get pass someone would say “way to go one-ie” or “Your on a 1x1? Keep it going” They were hurting, so they knew I was smoked! The people in the race and watching were amazing. I'm drilled, But I made it…
After the finish I was able to change and get over to the last climb up to the finish to see the womens field come through. As I counted 1,2,3,4,5,6 then Sandy. She was just behind two and Hammerd by them with 50 meters to go and finished 5th overall 3rd in class. So it was a great showing at the MASS. Close for me and a 3rd place on the steps for Sandy. One day I'll get there on my "ONE-IE"...........

Out...