jsqueri

Today at the whirley bird in Bensalem, PA someone cut across my line and hit my front (tubeless) tire hard and knocked it off the rim- maybe a minute or two into the race. I had a good start, was feeling strong and boom, over.

When I realized it was just a major burp I started shouting out for a pump. Most people just looked at me oddly, but finally someone said they had one handy back at the start. I ran back, filled the tire to 40 and jumped back on. They had already roped off the start so I had to make my way under teh yellow tape, but before I knew it I was passing the slow guys (I'm a slow guy too). After the first lap I'd passed several riders and realized how good I was feeling. Not just physically, but mentally too. The under dog position works pretty good as a motivator. I was able to stay on the gas through most of the race (a problem of mine) and passed someone 20' from the finish.

I was high as a kite when I finally caught my breath at the end of the race. I'm sure I finished way low, but what the hell, I came back from a DNF.

If you can fix that tire/derailleur/brake/etc. problem and keep racing, do it. It's worth it. I'm sure I'll place a lot better later in the season than I did today, but I'm not sure if I'll come away FEELING much better.

P.S. Gotta give props to the dude at the Bilenky Junk Yard Cross last year that RAN with his bike the last two laps after he jammed up his RD. My inspiration for today's comeback.

Andy_K 

Good job sticking with it!

I did the Fazio Farms race today in Portland and there were a lot of people getting flats. They were offering some kind of prize for DFL, so a few people ran it out, but more just called it a day. I didn't think much about that until I saw the guy who ended up winning the A race running his bike to the pits. To be fair, he flatted in a fairly convenient place -- he had maybe a quarter lap to run, but most of it was chicanes through loose dirt that I was starting to think would have been faster to run anyway. To his credit, though, he was in second place when he got the flat and made a really impressive comeback to catch the guy ahead of him (two or three laps later).

Personally, I had my hopes finally winning something at a cross race foiled by a guy with the kind of determination you're talking about. I got off to a terrible start and am pretty slow to begin with, so I thought I had DFL in the bag, but then some guy flatted on the second lap and ran his bike for a lap and a half to finish a full lap behind me.

jsqueri

That's funny, man. But, wow, running a lap and a half. I just think that's pretty cool.

Andy_K 

Yeah, if he would've just walked to the finish line for lap 2 and waited for the finish I would have felt cheated, but the fact that he got in another lap was pretty impressive. I didn't actually see him running the third lap. It possible he got a new wheel in the pit and just didn't have time to catch me, but it was a Clydesdale race and we don't generally have pit wheels, so I'm thinking he ran.

adam_mac84

Today, I had a 10+s gap on second place, coming into the last 1/4 of a lap (which was not a good place for anyone to make up time). All I had to do was not crash or flat. You guessed it, hit a rut that I had avoided all day while racing, and as i was trying to gingerly finish without screwing up my first win in this particular race series... I flatted, and lost 2 minutes.

Last 4 lap times:
7:04, 7:02, 7:01, 9:09.

I did run it to the finish. Was still pretty happy with how i rode. First mechanical in 20 races, so i figure 5% failure rate should be ok... especially with the super rutted sketchy course

simonaway427

that made me chuckle....

jsqueri

Well, yeah. I guess it seemed odd because we were pretty much in a straight and he hit me at a real odd angle. Almost like it was intentional, though I'm sure it wasn't.


Beating my average by a large margin.

caloso

Well done! I had a mechanical in my first race this year, unfortunately it was all my own fault, but I had the same feeling of needing to catch all the guys who passed me as I was in the pit.

marqueemoon

I've yet to have a major mechanical problem, but I would have no problem throwing in the towel in certain situations.

As the Hodala stickers say "My pit bike is a 6 pack.".

jfmckenna

No never give up on a cyclocross race, anything can happen at any time. Technically speaking you can only fix your bike in the pit but I'm sure no one cares. I don't think I'd bother running my bike unless maybe there was one lap to go.

jsqueri

Especially in cat 4, but good to know.

marqueemoon

Welp, ran the last half lap of Sunday's race. Pinch flatted halfway through lap 4. Tire was completely flat by the same point in lap 5. Didn't have my own pit wheels and they were out of neutral fronts because so many other people had flatted. I yelled to my teammates spectating on the course to bring me a wheel to the pit but they didn't hear me. So I said screw it and ran the rest. Mercifully I was lapped between my running and wasting time in the pit so by the time I got to the line I was a lap down and didn't have to run anymore.

Still beat about 9 other dudes

yochris 

Would've of if I could've...

aggiegrads

That is exactly what mine looked like 200 yards into the third lap of a ridiculously muddy cross race here in Portland. I ran the entire last lap and swore that I would not finish in time to avoid a DNF. Of 179 starters, only 77 finished four laps. There were 25 DNFs and another 10 people who took in excess of 45 minutes to complete 3 laps. I ended up finishing with about 10 people behind me, not including the 25 DNFs. Three laps > DFL > DNF.

Although frustrated with the bloodbath that the course inflicted on the bikes, I was happy that I finished and would have been disappointed with myself if I had just headed to the bike wash.

Andy_K 

I got four laps in, but it took me 55 minutes (and I didn't have that ridiculously slow start that the Master C's always have because of their field size).

Peanut butter followed immediately by gravel was a perfect recipe for breaking derailleurs. I was lucky enough to get away with just a dropped chain. Good for you for running it out.

Andy_K 

This is the problem with steel frames (been there, done that). On an aluminum frame, the derailleur hanger would have broken off and the derailleur itself might have survived. At the race aggiegrads mentioned I saw a brand new carbon frame with a chunk taken out of the chain stay where the derailleur hit it.

marqueemoon

The more I see stuff like that the more I think I'll stick with singlespeed for the sloppier late season races. I've already dumped my geared bike on the drive side once this year.

Rumpled

Mine a couple of seasons ago looked kinda similar at SantaCX at Pierce College. But, my DH broke and the derailleur was cut in two between the pulleys. I shouldered on and did one and a half laps with a full beer handup on each lap. There was torentially rain and the course had already been shortened by half. There were even a few broken frames that day.
It was my best relative finish postion ever.

aggiegrads

My frame is aluminum (Kona JTS) and unfortunately, my hangar did not break off. RD snapped in two at the parallelogram and I also gouged my seat stay where the RD pulled through. Also sucked the chain in between the cassette and spokes and had to have the wheel rebuilt.

Expensive day, but I would have been more disappointed had I not finished.

Andy_K 

Ouch! That was me at Rainier in 2010. No fun. It happened to me on the second lap that day and I threw in the towel (happy not to have to go up that hill again).

jfmckenna

Dayum that's ugly

aggiegrads

Fortunately, The gouge in my seat stay is minor. The RD and chain were a total loss, but my wheel rebuild was cheap due to outstanding customer service from my wheelbuilder.