Alex:Lumberjack 2:2

2 good laps, 2 bad ones.

Had a great time right from the start of the race, felt good, settled in to the "Dolppinator pace" and enjoyed every part of the fast and fun trail. Rode only a couple of miles of the race with people I knew (Tim, Chad, Dave), but ended up by myself pretty soon. Just how I like it, life is good. I had no goals for this race, but looking at the time it took me to finish the first 2 laps, I started thinking about an 8 hour finish time... guess I shouldn't have done that.

Lap 3 started with a mechanical, the chain fell between the cassette and the wheel. A bunch of guys passed me while I tried to yank the chain out again. Seems like it went downhill from there... legs started cramping (which they haven't done in a long time), the frontbrake acted weired, a crash, and the feeling that it is too hot to race a bike.

Took it super easy going back out for lap 4 and tried to do damage control. I was looking forward to the aidstation midway throught the lap, particularly the orange slices I saw there the last time I went by, and at one point was convinced they moved the station further down the trail. I then started to freak out what I would do if they would be out of oranges... As it turns out, the aidstation of course was at exactly the same spot, but it just takes a lot longer to get there when you are moving slow, and they still had oranges.

Crossing the finish line after 8:18 h I had 98 miles on the computer, if the race had been one more lap I know the Lumberjack would have gotten me (and if it had been one more mile, Tim probably would have gotten me).

So I have mixed feelings about the race. I'm glad that, after last years disaster, I finished this year, but know I should have been a little faster. Guess I have to try it again next year...

No, I swear, I wasn't sweeping chimneys


Hats off to my teammates Christian, who finished 3rd, and Robert, coming in 8th! Oh, and I ended up 22nd.