Rocks and roots and flat tires! Oh my!

This weekend I raced the 6 hour race at Blue Mounds, part of the Wisconsin Endurance Mountain Bike Series. This race was originally scheduled in July but was postponed because of heavy rains making the trail unrideable. This is another favorite course - very technical singletrack with lots of roots and rocks.

The race started at 1:00 and I had a plan - I was just out to have fun and not worry about my lap times and viewed it more as a long training ride rather than a race. My first lap was one of the funnest of any race I've done. I felt great and despite taking my time, had one of my fastest laps ever at Blue Mounds. I went out for my second lap and after about 20 minutes I got a flat on my front tire. I quickly changed it and as I was about to get going again a young kid came up the trail walking his bike. He had a flat tire and no tools or tubes with him to fix it. I offered to help him and long story short it took forever to try and fix the flat which never happened because we couldn't even get the tire off the rim. Between my flat and helping him I lost about 20 minutes on that lap. Oh well, I was only out to have fun. I came through the start finish area and started on my 3rd lap and knew that I would still be able to get 4 laps in assuming no problems. I started on the long, rocky technical downhill and at the bottom got my 2nd flat. I was prepared, had all the tools and wasn't worried. I got my stuff out and realized that one of my spare tube was for my singlespeed which has 29 inch wheels and what I needed was a 26 inch tube. At that point I started to get frustrated and got out my second spare tube and realized it was also for my other bike. I had to walk back to the start finish area to where my pit area was set up. I got the tube replaced and luckily Kevin had some 26 inch tubes because I was all out. I was really frustrated now because I lost at least 20 minutes. I got going again and within 20 minutes I got two more flats. After that I had no more tubes and only 1 CO2 cartridge. I got to a water stop and figured I was done because if I got another flat, it would be a long walk back if I didn't turn back there. However, I decided that I would take the chance and keep going because I hadn't exhausted all my options. I still had a patch kit and 1 CO2 cartridge and that I would not be happy with only doing 2 laps. Luckily, no more flats after that and I finished with three laps.

I had gotten a flat a few weeks ago and knew the rim tape needed to be replaced so I definitely learned a good lesson -- check you gear and your bike before the race.

I'm all done racing for the year and am looking forward to some fun fall riding!