Monday, October 22, 2007

Race Report AOS by Carl

The 2007 Attack on Swayback turned out to be an exceptional event on a most beautiful day. The crowd seemed large and the trial was in super shape. I was really nervous for some unknown reason...more than likely performance anxiety. Being in the beginner 50+ class is not particularly worrisome with such a small field of old slow guys. Regardless, I still want to try my best and put forth a respectable effort. I always have a goal of trying to do a little better each time I race. I felt like I was off to a good start, got hung up with a few crashes in front of me, trying to keep moving as fast as I could and still maintain control. Some where around 3-4 miles my rear triangle bolt came loose forcing me to stop several times and go real slow. It took me a while to figure out what the problem was, which I did just prior to the sharp right to climb to the zipper. I thought about abandoning, but at the last minute I changed my mind and headed up to the zipper. Just prior to starting down the zipper I stopped to see if the bold had fell out and a guy stopped and lent me an allen wrench. After securing the bolt, I kicked it in gear and tried to make up for lost time (remember it's me). The remainder of the race was fun and stress free. I finished in 49 minutes, which was my time last year. That was comforting, I felt despite the mechanical issue I still made better time than last year. Despite that I placed 3rd in the beginner 50+ (out of 4).