Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Fw: Suprize

on 07/07/2009 08:17 AM -----

          Justin Pokrivka <racerrat666@yahoo.com>

          07/07/2009 08:09 AM


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Suprize


Wow what surprise I have over the weekend. It was super cool because it was the good kind too. I haven't been riding my mtn bike much because it used wasn't much fun lately. I told myself that I'm not riding it until I can do a push up or two. Finally I was able too.  It hurts and the form was pretty bad but it will work for now.

     Ruth was heading out to the MASS weekend festival to meet JR. I decided to go at the last minute. The weekend had three races scheduled. Friday was a night time TT, Saturday was a 9hr solo race or a 12hr team race and Sunday was a short track race.

We got to the farm on Friday around 7:00. It was on private property and they had an amazing trail network built. We got our tent setup and then got ready for the TT. Before I knew it I was off I thought I was doing OK but it was hard to tell. Then I had a little problem chain into the spokes. After fixing that problem I did it again shortly afterwards. After that is when things were looking bad. The trail was super tight and had lots of log crossings and I decided not to shift anymore in the rear. I finished but was near the bottom.

 On Saturday morning I made a little adjustment and fixed the problem. But after riding some of the trails on Friday I was very nervous before the start on Saturday. For lots of reasons first my log crossing skills suck and bike handling are pretty bad now. There was over 30 people in the solo race.

    It was 9:00 and time to go. It was going to have a LeMans start. I lined up near the back which turned out to be the front. We started the run and got on to the bike in good position. Then I just started riding at my own pace and tried to stay out of everyone's way. On the first lap I got off and walked most of the log crossings. Then on the second lap I decided that I was going to try and ride them. Because it was a slow getting off and walking them. I managed to get almost all of them some but it wasn't pretty.

   After about hour 3 is when it hit me that I still have 6 hours of racing still to go. This was also about the time when my poor pit planning came to my attention. In the morning I figured 4 water bottles plus the 2 on the bike would be plenty and one PB sand and some gel. But after I went though that supply if was time to get more. So I did the best I could and refilled and ate whatever I could make fast.


        I it seemed like I was doing OK. But is was hard to tell because there was so many people out on the course and I didn't know who was solo and who was part of a team. At hour 6 is when I started doing the math I'm my head on how may more laps. It keep changing from 7 to maybe 9. Then at hour 8 is when did the math correct and 10 was the magic number.

   When I finished and looked at the standings I seen that I was second. I was very suprized because I never seen the standings during the race. Ruth had a good race to and finished 5th in the women's solo.


Justin




     

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