BUGS !

Yep that's right bugs. You know the ones that you have to work out when you buy something new. Well I had my share of them today at the CX race. First the Masi CXR......

First lap I was in about 8th place and doing well for the minute. I came out of the barn (yes we went through some barns stables) and there was a sharp lefty with a 6ft step up in it. I dropped my chain there. Hmm I don't like this, I hope this things not prone to this. But I have a dog fang at home that will solve this when I get to the house, but back to the race. I cost me about 30 seconds and the lead group was gone. I got back in and laid the pedal to the metal. I caught back up with several and passed them. I was turning laps as fast as the lead pack so I was not liking the situation I was in. I could see them about one third of a lap ahead and they were not pulling me bad. I just kept my pace. The course was fast, rocky, ROUGH, BUMPY and lotsa horse poo. Not much climbing at all. 2 laps to go and I went into a curve and the front end wiggled, Ughhhhhh pinch flat? Yep it slowly went down and I just rode as best as I could towards the pits. Steve Stidham offered me the wheel from his SS standing on the sideline and I was very grateful! He did all the swapping out and had me back on the track fast. Thanks a ton Steve!!!! By this time the last place dude rode by. I got back on and picked off two in the last lap. I salvaged a 12th overall in CX4. Oh well, hopefully I got all the "bugs" out of this thing before the series starts next week. By the way there's about three that SHOULD be in CX3 instead of racing CX4 that will probably be doing the MSG series.....S A N D B A G G E R S !!!! You know who you all are too!!! That's all I'm going to say about that.

Ok, the SS Redline monocog..... seatpost. It's my fault on this one though. No shop had a 26.8 post so I got a 26.0 in its place and tried to go with it by shimming it. WRONG. 2\3Rd's way through the first lap of the SS class the seat went ka-thump straight down into the frame. I slid by the car and Anet threw me a multi tool, so I just stayed on the bike and rode it over to the pits and started working on it. I guess I was hopped up for the racing because I over-tightened the clamp and snapped the bolt off...Rats! "I do believe I over exceeded the torque capability of that bolt ole chap" I was thinking to myself. I just putted back over to the car and parked the bike. Big DNF for me! I heckled Larry a couple of times who looked puzzled to see me just sitting there, lol. FYI :the guy that won the SS class was pushing a 46 X 20 heeeeeeeelllllllllll yeeeeeeaaaa!

Austin got to race this race also. He got third for his efforts too. He had a blast hanging' out with Jesse and Ian. I don't think they have seen much of each other since last years HOT. Jesse checked out and never looked back, of course he got first. Austin says hes looking forward to the series, I was very happy to hear that because you know how teenagers are nowadays. It's hard to keep their attention on anything. I kinda wish that they raced the kids by themselves so I could take some pictures, cheer him on and give him some support. Anywho..... they put on a great race, the course and weather was GREAT! Thanks Dwayne! Next weekend it all starts MSG!!!!!!

Later G.......................................