Sunday, November 7, 2010

Dirtworks 100km Marathon

This was a great race for me last year. A perfect mix of singletrack and fireroad to suit my style.
Bigtop time... The 29er would be sweet on the fireroads and rail on the singletrack.

This year i was hoping to have a good ride, unsure of my fitness i entered vets again. Planned to just tap it out and try to stay with a front group.

That plan lasted till the 20km mark. I attacked. Got a gap in singletrack and didn't look back. I was cranking.

I started to catch the tail end of the elite group who had started 5 mins before us, getting closer the the half way mark and still feeling good. I still had plenty of Gu gels left and the halfway feed zone was coming up. Passing a track marshall i was informed i was in 6th, overall!

Through some singletrack i collected a stick in my chain but it didn't seem to cause any problems, i pulled it out and kept riding. The next climb i shifted up the cassette then crunch. Rear Derailleur cage gets caught in spokes and is dragged around, snapping my hanger, bending the cage, buckling the rear wheel, breaking a jockey wheel and b tension screw. Pretty much ending my race.



Busted up good.



Where the hanger used to be. Seems i may have broken part of the frame tip as well. One of the hanger mounting bolts is missing and the hole it used to go through is gone as well. Damn. Lucky they are replaceable.

just riding along of course....

So i had to singlespeed it to get home. Sadly the chain kept trying to climb the cassette which was making some nasty noises and rear tyre was buzzing the frame where the wheel was buckled. Limp home time.

Great course though. Definately one to do again next year.