Ah, I went from winning the race to not finishing. Sunday April 20 was the second stop of the Root 66 serie s in Winsted CT. Again I was up at 5am and out of the house around 5:30 I made good time down to Winsted. I only had to stop to go the bathroom a few times and ate my pre game meal in the car. 

I didn't have much time to get ready for the race. For some reason the race promoters thought it would be easier for the racers to follow signs hidden in the town to actually put real directions on there web page. So after getting semi lost, I rolled into the race site with just over an hour before the start. I like to have 90-120 minutes. It seems you always stop and talk to fellow racers, and this and that happens and before you know it you don't have much time for a good warm up.

I decided to race on the Salsa Mamasita  which turned out to be a great choice. The bike is amazing! Just point and go, thats how you ride the Mamasita! The big wheels gave me more confidence on loose rocky down hills and an overall advantage over other riders.  

I had a hard time deciding if it was long sleeve or short sleeve weather. I went with the short sleeve and it was the right choice. I was feeling pretty good at the line. I was a little nervous after last weeks below par performance and not having the chance to pre ride the course. Well as the gun went off I found myself in first place?? I didn't think I gunned it that hard, could I really have made a complete 180 from last weekend? Well I decided to ease up a little bit on the opening climb. Arron Oaks then passed me (Arron had about 10 minutes on me last weekend). As we turned off the climb and entered the single track I saw Arron was not riding it very fast so I simply passed and laid down a good hard pace. I was leading for a while until the long climb about mid way through the lap. Arron and a Dominic from Target Training passed me. They put about 5-10 seconds on me. However, I wasn't going to just give up on some climb, so I dug deep closed the gap and passed them! I was still trying to take it easy because I didn't know what was coming up. 

As I headed into the decent Dominic and I had put about 10-15 seconds on Arron. I felt like a million bucks. And then... the chain snapped! I fixed the chain and found myself in last place. As I got back on the bike I was charging forward with rage! I was flying down hill and soon passed a few of the pros. On the fourth lap (out of 5) I had moved up into 4th. 1st place wasn't far ahead. I was feeling amazing and I knew I could come back and win it. I was determined to catch up to Arron and Dominic. 1/2 way through the fourth lap I noticed i was missing 2 chainring bolts. I tried tightening them up, but one of them snapped leaving me with only one chainring bolt. I was S.O.L. I thought about taking them off and riding in my little ring, but that wasn't an option. Option B was to run, something I have done before, Option C was to go back to the car and hope I had some chain ring bolts in my tool box. I opted for option C. I figured running 6 miles wasn't going to do much for my training. Turns out I did have some chain ring bolts in my tool box. I  put them on the crank and went out for another lap on the course. I also got in a good road  ride  in the area.  

I am really bummed about the mechanicals. I was fine with the snapped chain because that would have made the win all the more glorious, but the chain ring bolts just killed me. Next weekend the bike will be in tip top condition and I will be opening up a can of whoop ass!!! Watch out New England!!