dirty spokes 6 hrs...ouch

Yesterday was the first endurance race of the season for me...the dirty spokes 6 hour at Heratige Park near Athens, GA. I was hoping for a good ride, but realized after pre-riding friday evening that the course was not particularly suited to my riding strengths...i.e. very twisty and rooty with hardly any sections to really open up and ride hard, short punchy climbs (but nothing extended) and lots of narrow, tight wooded sections. At any rate, I think my fitness is coming along and I still had hopes of a good finish.

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Forecast was for rain and temps in the 40's. We had light rain on and off through the day, but for the most part, while it was cold, humid and cloudy, the course did not get too wet (other than lots of slick roots).

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I got off to a pretty good start and the front group was close together for the first half of lap one. 4 miles into this initial lap I was in about 5th position when I got "clotheslined" by a low hanging vine on a downhill. Ever wonder what would happen if you were cruising on a downhill and ran into a cable hanging right at neck height? I found out. It was a scary moment to be sure...feeling the vine rip into my neck bringing me to a stop...worse still was that this vine had THORNS on it of which I felt every one. Ouch.

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As a few riders stopped behind me I felt bad about holding them up and asked if there was any foreign objects sticking out of my neck....then I was off ...although a bit shaken up and definitely not in the groove. At the end of the lap I stopped to be sure I was not bleeding too badly ( I wasn't) and the promoter and announcer (thanks guys) swabbed off my neck with some alcohol. I was glad I didn't have to pull out of the race and took off on the next lap. I got back into the groove...and as soon as I felt I was really back into it I skipped off a rock and a couple of trees played ping pong with the back of my rib cage. Damn. I had the wind knocked out of me and again it took me a bit to get going again....but I did. I finally got rolling again on lap 3 and 4 and passed a few riders.

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At the start of lap 5 Cara yelled at me that I was just 1 min behind 3rd place and I turned it on. I caught Erik about 3/4 of the way into the lap. We rode together until the start of lap 6....which was cool..... Shortly into lap 6 (which would be my final lap) I realized that I spent a bit too much energy chasing Erik and had to let him ride away. I cruised through lap 6 feeling pretty worked over the second half....and glad that I wouldn't have to go out for a 7th round.

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Just a couple miles before the finish I caught Cara (who was racing in duo class with Dwight Wyatt). I was surprised when she caught back up to me and we crossed the line together at the finish.

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So I ended up 4th. Big congrats to Nathan Wyatt on the win, Shey Linder 2nd and Erik 3rd. I turns out that Erik was able to get within a minute of Shey on the last lap...so I was not too far off the mark today even with some bad luck. Cara and Dwight were 2nd in the duo class.

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My neck looked pretty bad, but is starting to heal up already just 24 hours later. I also have a nasty cut on my left shoulder from the vine...where it burned a nice hole through my jersey. That blood spot on my chest in the pic above, while it looks like a gunshot wound, is really just where the blood from my neck pooled. My back right lat is pretty torn up too...but didn't keep me from getting a good night's sleep. I am already amped up for the next endurance race...I just need to do a better job of avoiding obstacles :)

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a2