ohhhh, man.

Well, today I did my best to back up my talk of smack. Had a 'goal' of top ten, played out the start to keep everbody honest. Good times rolling with Keefer and espoirs Brandon. Took my place in line at the tail end of the group with a biiiig gap behnd. nice, mission accomplished. Found a spot in the pecking order with Steve Schwartz and Reubane, then dangled off the back of the seperation, waiting to pick off those those might crack. Just outta sight on lower Graves, in sight on Woodrow, just watch and watch and tempo and cruise and ...and....and. damn that's a longish climb.

Niiiiice cat n mouse with Tour cousin Patrick McMillar, then the creek bed then silence behind until the rampaging Timmy D towed me up the very last bit of fire road love to 3 mile. Awesome flow thru the moto brap braaaAP session until Tim said good bye with a flat. Mr Crampy caught up to me shortly, then I flatted. Watched the SS freight train roll thru, trying to encourage Bucky, back on it and have the three of 'em in sight on Woodrow.

Then squishy squish squirrelyness in a corner and I'm going flat again. Figure a bad tube and watch a few others roll by. Chat with the moto rider, check realllllly qwik for a thorn, just in case, then in with a fresh tube and last two co2's. Roll across Rattlesnake just pulling in a couple of guys, damn, going flat again. mother fucker. one is a challenge, two is sometimes recoverable, but three with a patch as the only option, changes the perspective on the day. set up camp just before Rattlesnake v 2.0 and got to patching the tube, waiting for some charity air of some sort. Topher gets the all star award today, hooking up Tim with a tube for his fifth and air for my third, thanks for everything brother! So I got into the JRA mode after quick safety review with Mike and rolled off Rattlesnake into the shwoopy dry and fun nowhere loop option before stopping for a beer and a chat with Travis and the crew. Best damn Troeg's Pale I've ever had in my life! That's the only thing that got me home. Finished in the mid twenty's, dropping from top ten potential, rear tire was flat when I unloaded off the car, guess the patches held just enough. That's the way it goes, I liked my numbers, July looks a little more in focus now, despite my currently blurry vision.

Congrats to everybody that toed the line, it was good to share the trail today.