First up was Ruston. This is where I started mountain biking and I have so many laps there I know the course as well as anyone. My in-laws also live in town so we go there a few times a year when I get to do some laps to keep things fresh. Going into the race I had my eyes on Bradyn and Neil, who had gotten 2nd at the opening round at Camp Eagle. Off the start I fell in behind Neil to keep my eye on him. I followed him until a Mississippi guy came around at the first fenceline. He led for a bit then Neil and I went back around and MS fell off the pace. I was feeling good and just sizing these guys up; I could tell Neil was strong but I was climbing easier than he was as he was attacking the climbs and I was able to keep right on his wheel without too much effort. Eventually we dropped MS but Bradyn had caught us. Neil bobbled a tight turn, and that put me in the front. This wasn't where I wanted to be going into a long fenceline section, so I just kept a steady effort. I led around to finish the lap, then we all went into the singletrack together to start lap 2. In the first singletrack section with them on my wheel I was taking every bad line I could, not wanting to give anything away and trying to make them work a little bit harder. I wasn't pushing hard just keeping a nice flow pace. When we hit the first small uphill fire road I took it up a notch and they came off my wheel. I kept the pace high through the rest of that section and I came out with a good gap. The rest of that lap I just stayed at a good strong pace and the gap kept growing. This was way sooner than I'd wanted to be off the front but I was feeling great. Coming into the last lap I had a really good gap, I couldn't see anybody behind me even on the longest straightaways so I knew I just had to keep it together and cruise to the finish.
I got through the first singletrack section and then disaster struck. My rear shifter was starting to come apart, and every time I would try to upshift in the rear it would drop all the way down to the 11t cog. I could downshift back but then it would fall all the way back down to the 11t if I tried to upshift just once. Then it got so loose I couldn't downshift at all. I didn't panic, I decided I could just shift the front shifter and get through the rest of the race. I'd ride the 24x11 on most everything and just go to 38x11 for the downhills so the chain wouldn't be too loose. This was working ok and I was still making good time and not seeing anybody behind me. When I hit a long fenceline section I pulled my multi-tool out while riding and tried to fix my shifter on the fly. The bolt that was coming loose is designed to be tightened from the inside with the cover off, so the part on the bottom is a square. I couldn't tighten it so just had to keep going. About halfway through the lap on a short steep climb I got on the gas a little too hard and the chain snapped from being cross-chained so badly. This is when I panicked. I guess I was thinking that with my shifter screwed up and my derailleur stuck where it was, even if I fixed the chain I'd be right back in the same situation, so I just threw the chain off and started running. I just wanted to get to the finish line. Of course I figured out pretty quick this was a bad idea. I got about a mile up the trail before they started passing me, but I was totally done. I kept moving as fast as I could, but it was just wasted effort. I ran/walked/coasted the rest of the way until the trail passed the spot I'd thrown my chain. It took at least 5 minutes of looking, but I found it. I went back to the bike and of course fixed the chain in a minute or two with my spare link, then I ran my high limiter screw on the rear der all the way in to put the chain on the 3rd cog instead of the smallest. This helped and is what I should've done in the first place, I would've been in a better gear to pedal and the chain wouldn't have been so cross-chained and probably not have broken. I soft pedaled in to the finish, dejected about losing my favorite race in such disastrous fashion and my hopes of winning the fall series shattered.
After Ruston I went into Huntsville seeking some redemption. Afterwards I was satisfied that I'd gotten it. Man, what a race. Definitely one of my hardest, fastest and best races ever. The usual crew was on the line along with Shawn, a cat. 1 roadie from Dallas who had gotten 2nd at Tyler. I knew he was really fit from the way he smoked the finish climb there. Nathan Winkelmann also decided to race with us, not sure why or how; he was pre-registered in the Pro class, but of course it was a pretty good guess he'd be the main one to watch. Bradyn the 15yr old I've been dueling all series was there, along with Neil who I'd first raced at Ruston but knew he was strong.
I was on the front row and got a really good start at the whistle, pulling out a bike length by the time we crossed the road. This let me sit up a little bit and go in the singletrack on my own terms. Neil was behind me so I let him slip through and went in right behind him. I think Bradyn was on my wheel. We got a small gap on the group and after about 5 minutes Neil let me by. I just tried to keep the pace, but got down the next downhill really fast and had a good climb on the other side of the bridge. I had opened a decent gap but knew it was way too soon to try to keep pushing solo so I just kept it steady, and then Neil and Bradyn came back. Neil took the lead on the fenceline road, and my teammate Michael had come across too so I was excited to have him and maybe we could work together somehow. I fell in behind Bradyn when I took a bad line on the first steep climb at hamburger hill, and we finished most of the rest of the lap like this, until Neil's tire was losing air and started rolling so he pulled off. Several guys had come across, then Michael crashed in the fast sandy sweeper on the homestretch section so me and Bradyn had a small gap until Wink caught us right before the second lap.
Bradyn was leading into the second lap with me and Wink behind, when we hit the first open section Wink attacked around us and I told Bradyn he had to follow that. He did so we were on Wink's wheel and going hard. We hit a tricky left turn onto a rooty climb, I took the inside line and passed Bradyn onto Wink's wheel. We dropped Bradyn somewhere, and then I was off the front of a bike race with Nathan Winklemann. This was not lost on me, and was pretty cool. We rolled through the feedzone together, and then going down the descent after the nature center we caught another racer. Wink sat up and didn't pass him, then after the bridge when we hit the climb wink attacked me while squeezing around the backmarker. I thought this was kinda cheeky, but I was able to get by and up my pace to reel wink back in. I followed until we got to a sandy jeep road where he attacked me again. Again I didn't go all out to catch him, just upped my pace and was able to reel him back in. This is when I really started to think I could do this, as I felt like he had attacked pretty hard but I was able to bring him back. I think he put in one more dig on one of the small climbs before the jeep road, but I matched him and we hit the road together. He flicked his elbow for me to come around, but I knew this would be bad for us so I stayed back. He started slowing down and flicked again, so I had no choice but to go around. I pulled through the two corners, and I could see they were closing in on us from behind. I told wink if he didn't pull they were going to catch us. He didn't want to work so sure enough Shawn caught us before the big hill. He flew right by, and wink and I responded. I think wink got back ahead of me. They got a gap on me going over the climbs, but I pedaled the downhill afterwards and was able to reattach. We stayed together for a while, Shawn was hitting the climbs hard but wink and I were able to stay with him. Towards the end of the lap wink started letting a little gap open, but we started the third lap with Shawn just in sight.
As we went into lap 3, wink had let the gap grow to maybe 20 seconds? I felt like he was setting me up for another attack. In hindsight I probably should have went around and set the pace, but I didn't know what to do at that point. Sure enough when we took the left off the road trail onto the rooty climb, he attacked to bridge to Shawn. I went hard to stay with, and went through the feedzone with them just out of reach. When we hit the next big climb I popped. Bradyn caught me and I let him by and encouraged him to go get them. I tried to keep moving after topping out on the climb, but Bradyn disappeared quickly. This was disheartening, but I just tried to keep moving. Soon I started to see him ahead again. I chased hard on the jeep road and big hill and reeled him back in. I rode behind him for a bit, and when we hit the next series of climbs one other guy came up to us out of nowhere. I was a little worried now, since that guy had come up so quick I figured he was riding strong. He stayed behind us, and when we got to the last climb I started to attack around Bradyn. As soon as I started going around he picked something up in his drivetrain and had to slow for a second and reach down to pull it out. I felt bad for seemingly attacking on a mechanical, so I pulled up and made sure we were all back together, but now I was leading the group and had to lead through the fast homestretch. I kept the pace up and neither of them tried anything. When we hit the last tiny length of singletrack before the uphill turn to the finish, I punched it with all I had, hoping to open the sprint a little earlier than they thought and catch them by surprise. I was able to keep them behind me to finish 3rd. This put me 3rd on the series as well, where I figured I would end up after the Ruston disaster. Paul, who had a pretty firm grip on the series finished 11th after too much partying the last few weeks he said and finished 2nd overall. Bradyn, with his consistent finishes and win at Ruston, took the series overall.
 |
| TX Cup overall podium |
