Snap Crackle and...

...what the Hell was that?

That was lap one of the Iron Hill endurance race yesterday. Halfway thru the first lap I pushed in the thumb shifter on the rear derailleur and hear a loud snap, I try it again.....Houston we have a problem. The cable broke inside the shifter, not really what I wanted to happen ten minutes into a four hour race.

But things could have been worse, the course was perfect for my new ghetto three speeder. Each five mile lap was full of fun fast twisty single track, several super fast rocky downhills and a few steady climbs.

Even with my limited shifting and even more limited training the past few weeks I felt pretty good the first two hours. But in the third hour the extra torque on the legs was starting to take it's toll. Not so much on the legs themselves, I started to cramp a little in both lower biceps. All I could guess was that it was from the extra pulling on the handlebars. A little extra fluid and a few Endurolytes helped a little, but it was just time to nurse the body thru the last hour.

I started the race with the goal of eight laps, but as I headed out on my eighth lap I saw I was gonna be cutting it really close to be able to go out for a nineth. I tried to give it a little extra, but there was nothing left....I missed the cut off by just over a minute, and to tell, you the truth I'm not one bit upset by it.

So a ninth out of the 20 solo "geared" men it was, and considering the field plus my bike issues I was pretty happy with that.