Shit Happens

Ok, I’m worked today…….
First a little race recap. It was just like being back in the Midwest. Raining, muddy and did I say rainy? There were about 200 plus racers, not bad for Midweek. With about 15 in the Pro/Half Pro class and maybe 50 in the Expert/1x1 class. I got there a little late so I didn’t get much of a warm-up in before the line-up. I counted 10 plus 1x1’s in the field. But I wasn't here to win. My priorities were to first finish, second not be last and third not to get lapped by the Pro’s. O-yea and something about having fun. I did manage all of the above so it was a “Great MTB Race” for Mitch Man.
The Pro wave went off 5 min.s ahead of mine, so I got a little extra time with the MP3 and the old school Hip-Hop that has become part of my pre-race mojo. At the gun the pace was mild so I took the opportunity to move up and grab the wheel of another 1x1. The course didn’t waste anytime and headed up the mountain. I was able to pace the other 1x1’s as we picked our way though the field on the first climb. It was fun climbing and grinding our way pass these guys spinning the butts off…..near the top I was sitting in a good spot with a group of 4, but I was about to blow. Lucky for me it flattened out and I hung through the rollers on top. There was a wicked decent at the end of loop and I got gap’d (Damm Rigid) but was able to pull it back about halfway up the second climb. Then the wheels fell off at the top of the second climb and dudes were blown by me as I was look'n for my leg’s in the woods. Once I got thing back together they were gone. So I just put my head down for some work as I had another lap an a half to go. I was able to pull one guy back and pass him but then the rain started coming down hard so really drilling it became impossible, Plus I was smoked. By the end the trail was like riding on grease, but fun……I think I’ll be racing the “Big Wheel” at Snowmass next week if I can get it back together.

Now why would I need to get it back together? Because I managed to rip the thing off the top of my truck along with the rack and factory mounting rails on my way home……
1-broken seat post
1-bent fork
2-broken rack mounts
1-missing factory mounting rail
Plus a list of dents and scratches to the Exploder.

Bummer…….the good news the bike is in better shape then the car. But more on this later……….