12 hours of Jackrabbit, Hayesville, North Carolina

46 degrees.   Fog.   Wet grass.   Perfect trails.   Today was the day.  Coming into this race season I had never dreamed of racing a 12 hour solo, and here I am battling it out for an overall series podium.   I had ridden more miles,  more loops of the local trails, eaten more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and made myself more nauseous than I thought was even possible from a sport.   4 days before the race I replaced my bottom bracket, (it had slop from the mudfest known as 'Fool's Gold')  and upgraded to the new Crankbrothers Eggbeater 3's, since I broke my SL's.   I'll let you know how they hold up.  Also, I bought a new chain, cassette, and brake pads for good measure.

I started on the rear end of things, knowing that I would be there all day.  Easily passing riders for the first couple hours,  for many of which it was their first race.   I caught my direct competition (Keith Kudlac, 2nd in the series standings)  and on the second lap he missed a shift and I rocked past him.  Put 7 minutes on him that lap.  Everything was going perfectly.   Should have known better than to pass Mark Duffus though.   He sets a great pace.  If I passed him I was probably going too hard.   No.  I thought to myself,  he is breaking in a new bike,  so he's just being more cautious, that's all.   Lap 4.  Had over 20 minutes on Keith.  I was smoking this course.

Enter the 5th lap.  Halfway through,  in the middle of a tight U-turn, my front end washed out.  landing me on the drive-side of my bike.   I didn't think anything of it,  this has happened before and everything turned out fine...    halfway down the next hill, I realized my shift didn't quite take.   Crap.  I had bent my derailleur hanger.   Rolling the cable's barrel adjuster while riding,  I got it to work for half the gears.   Finished that lap.  Started another.   1 mile in...   upshif.....  BANG!   The tension of the shift was just too much for the bent hanger to take.   It gave out, and the whole Shimano XT derailleur went crashing into my rear wheel.  Dang.  At least I was only a mile in.  I could minimize the damages by breaking the chain, and 'Fred Flinstoning' it back to the pit area.   So 25 minutes after I started that lap,  I started it again.  With my backup bike.  A v-braked, dual control shifter/brake lever combo mutant 26er.   Which is also too large for me.   After the most uncomfortable lap ever,  I dreamt up a way to get my Niner EMD 9 rolling again.

Singlespeed.   I ziptied the cassette to prevent the chain from dropping down,  shortened the chain to fit quite snugly, and I was off.   Gawd, I'm so spoiled.  Disc brakes are so amazing... how could I ever ride v-brakes again?!   A mile in again, and the chain doesn't go down to a harder gear.  Nope.  It jumps up to an easier one.  In a heartbeat I had gone from 32x20  which is a pretty easy gearing,  to 32x23.  A bit too spinny for even a gear loving guy like myself.   The problem though, wasn't the spin factor.  It was the fact that now, the chain had become soooo tight,  it was nearly impossible to turn the crank.   I did anyway,  killing myself for 2 more miles.  Then without my knowledge,  chainring bolts had fallen out and the front chainring just collapsed.  Now I was 3 miles into the trail,  and couldn't even coast.   Wow.  This is a disaster.   After another 20 minutes,  I effectively removed the chainring by flexing it with my bike tool until it broke off.  All the chainring bolts had fallen out luckily, making this feat much more simple.   Hahaha.

The rest of the lap was a test of scootering skills.  I ran up hills in my bike shoes, and coasted down them, with the seat dropped as low as it would go, so I could push off the ground to keep moving faster when gravity was starting to slow me down.   I got back in time for another lap on the backup bike, in the dark with lights on.   That always adds fun to any trail ride.   Made the day actually.  I didn't end up in last as I'd feared, but second to last.   Also, I maintained my overall series 3rd place,  and I got to stand on the podium later on that evening with Mark and Keith.   Next season they better look out  ;)  Above is a picture of the '12 hour sport class overall series finishers'   Mark Duffus gets first,  Keith Kudlac in second,  and myself in third!