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Recap of White Tanks Race on 11/15/2008 (by Brian Willess)

The start of this race was pretty funny, the beginner men got a little aggressive and went to the starting line right after the Sport Men started. But the next group was the Sport Women, so the guy anounced that the Sport Women should be at the line, only to look and see 20 men at the line. It was funny. Next the Rock Crusher Men, again all us beginner men ready to go. We finally got our start and we were off.

Photo by Brennan Lee

I did start in the front row this time, but I was quickly passed by most of the other riders. They were sprinting, and I had 17 miles to go, I was not sprinting. The ride has a nice uphill section a few miles long at the start. I used my strength to power up the hill and overtook most of the riders that passed me at the start.

The course we did was three modified perimiter loops, we did not ride the tech section or the furthest out short loop, followed by one kids loop. So we ended up with a nice ride, three laps of a 5 mile loop, then the 2 mile kids loop. The initial section is a gradual uphill climb, then it turns into a mostly flat ride with some washes to blast into and out of. The last third, is a nice gental downhill ride. The course plays to my strengths, mild hills and fast single track.

I was really doing great when on the 2nd lap I lost my line and rode ~50 yards off the beaten path. About 500 yards after that I got a flat. It was a fast flat, so I stopped and replaced the tube as fast as I could. While I was doing my repair many riders went by. The repair took about 6 minutes, and I was on my way again. Now I was on a mission, I need to try and make up my lost time.

Brennan Lee from the shop (Global Bikes) was taking pictures at a sweet spot where you could get some air. He got this picture of me. Notice that my right foot has come out of the pedal! I saved it and gave everyone a nice show.

I ended up passing a few of the riders that went by while I was doing my repair. I pushed hard, and even sprinted the last 1/4 mile to pass 3 riders that I had in my sights. After all was said and done I placed 8th in my class with a time of 1:26:13, without the repair I figure I would have had a time of 1:20:13 or so and would have placed 4th. There were 20 riders in my class.