Giver8er 2013, finally an overall win in the solo category ! ready to retire now..
Well, with an ugly forecast, rain and mud the Giver8er 2013 is now in the books ! After a quick tent set up with Andrew, I got on the bike and went out for a warm up with Leighton (bad idea...) it was only a warm up and he was already dropping me :-(( I started to wonder "when are we turning back and head out the the start??" luckily he said "ok, let's go back, we don't want to miss the start!".
I lined up at the front with all the Dead Goats and at the start I was probably riding top in the 10. Erik was right behind me and I had to perform well, didn't want to show I was hurting a bit/
Lap 1 went well as the trails were in phenomenal shape, went through the pits and didn't need to refill as I was feeling ok and didn't want to over eat this time. Lap 2 conditions still alright, but could feel some drops.. Lap 3 was a bit rainy and the mud was sticky, hard to pedal through and a bit frustrating in some sections of the course.
Lap 4 was terrible !, it was miserable, I preferred when it was raining since the grip was way better ! lap 5 was raining and I felt great, I was able to ride lots of the stuff I was walking before.. Lap 6 was ok, I rode with Stappler (for about 2 seconds) and it was a bit to fast for me, so I decided to continue with my own pace.. As I was crossing the timing tent Tim advised me that they had shortened the race and that I had 1:06:00 for the last lap, so I didn't even grab another bottle, not even looked around the pits, just kept going. I had the first gel at the top of the climb just to have that extra to hammer a last lap, I saw Kate in one of the sections and by the time I was passing through the same spot I was 3 minutes apart, not bad I thought, she is probably taking it easy :-) I managed to do this last lap in 00:50:00 +/- min with 16min to spare and recover...
It was by far the hardest race ever due to the bad conditions of the course! I probably crashed more than ever and went over the bars at least 3 times !@ ouch !!! didn't get hurt, but was very close to it.....
After the race was over I phoned Maria to check that everything was ok and to tell her that the race was over and she surprised me with the news that she has been checking the results and that I was the leader in the single speed, turned out that I was the overall winner in the solo category ! holicrap, was this day worthy :--)))) so happy !!
Thanks to Dead Goats for putting together such a great event and for calling it off too, safety first after all and conscience to maintain the trails in good shape.
I lined up at the front with all the Dead Goats and at the start I was probably riding top in the 10. Erik was right behind me and I had to perform well, didn't want to show I was hurting a bit/
Lap 1 went well as the trails were in phenomenal shape, went through the pits and didn't need to refill as I was feeling ok and didn't want to over eat this time. Lap 2 conditions still alright, but could feel some drops.. Lap 3 was a bit rainy and the mud was sticky, hard to pedal through and a bit frustrating in some sections of the course.
Lap 4 was terrible !, it was miserable, I preferred when it was raining since the grip was way better ! lap 5 was raining and I felt great, I was able to ride lots of the stuff I was walking before.. Lap 6 was ok, I rode with Stappler (for about 2 seconds) and it was a bit to fast for me, so I decided to continue with my own pace.. As I was crossing the timing tent Tim advised me that they had shortened the race and that I had 1:06:00 for the last lap, so I didn't even grab another bottle, not even looked around the pits, just kept going. I had the first gel at the top of the climb just to have that extra to hammer a last lap, I saw Kate in one of the sections and by the time I was passing through the same spot I was 3 minutes apart, not bad I thought, she is probably taking it easy :-) I managed to do this last lap in 00:50:00 +/- min with 16min to spare and recover...
It was by far the hardest race ever due to the bad conditions of the course! I probably crashed more than ever and went over the bars at least 3 times !@ ouch !!! didn't get hurt, but was very close to it.....
After the race was over I phoned Maria to check that everything was ok and to tell her that the race was over and she surprised me with the news that she has been checking the results and that I was the leader in the single speed, turned out that I was the overall winner in the solo category ! holicrap, was this day worthy :--)))) so happy !!
Thanks to Dead Goats for putting together such a great event and for calling it off too, safety first after all and conscience to maintain the trails in good shape.
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