A Good Idea at the Time

The start was a 2 mile downhill road which, as a singlespeeder, I wasn't looking forward to. However, it didn't split up the field at all, and the first group hit the singletrack as a mass of 40 or 50 riders. I passed a few more people before hitting the unclimbable sand hill. As I was pushing up the hill, 2 singlespeeders were ahead of me, along with whoever else was ahead of me at the start.

The course is essentially two loops of singletrack, the first one at 8 miles, and the second one at 17 miles long. About a mile into the first loop, a singlespeeder caught me and went by. I didn't know it at the time, but that would be the last time I would see another singlespeeder the entire day. The course was so different from the southeast, as there was very little climbing, and lots of sand on the course. The trails were also very non-technical, as you could probably count the number of roots and rocks in the 25 miles on two hands.

Overall it was pretty fun, with lots of twisty and swoopy sections. The climbs were small, and the 32x18 was enough to climb everything the first two laps, and only had to walk 3 climbs the last two laps. [except the sand hill, that I walked every lap.] There were some bumpy sections that got old real quick where the saddle would slam into you every pedal stroke... I needed 36” wheels for that!

My laps times were kind of consistent, running 2:03,2:04,2:13,2:13. The third lap didn't feel good, and the big minute drop confirmed it. So I ended up finishing in 8:34, for 7th place in the singlespeed. The called me up for awards and I won a handshake with the race promoter...

Elizabeth and Ed did good, with Elizabeth finishing on a SS in 10:30 [10th Womens Open], and Ed finishing in 10:04 [~10th Masters]. Go Knoxville!

Not really sure what is next up for me. I might go down to chattanooga for the SERC race next sunday. Other than that, the next sure thing on my calender is the Fool's Gold 100 miler down in Georgia in August. July always seems to kill the racing in the southeast, probably due to the terrible heat...