Flats, Flats, And More Flats

Well I'm back to blogging. I haven't hit my blogging peak, but I'm getting there. Soon I might get back to 2 a week. But for now, it's one blog a week. This past Saturday, I raced the Hell of the South road race. This race, although I didn't expect it, turned out to be a pretty epic day (for some.)
Friday was upon me, and like most Fridays, I was a couch potato. Fridays are my only weekday off so I like to be lazy. 4:00 pm rolled around and I still hadn't really done anything. I am trying to coordinate a carpooling trip with my teammates. Out of the blue, Kent Bostick calls me. Being one of my teammates, he offered to carpool. However, he was driving Friday and not Saturday. I decide it was better to drive the day before and not have to get up and leave at 4:30 AM. So I go with Kent. Unexpectedly for me, it turned out to be a family affair for the Bostick household. It ended up being a pleasant trip down there and back.
After a 4 hour drive, we get down there and get ready to race. It was a 96 mile Road race with about 9 miles of gravel roads. Going into the race, I didn't think this would be epic. Believe it or not, I love the long races, and 96 miles was right up my alley. Also, I ride on gravel roads all the time, so I was sort of well prepared for the gravel. The race starts, and I'm using my Pro Race 3 tires, that have probably 1,000 miles on them. I used these tires only for racing last year. These were the same tires I flatted from last week because of a staple.
Once we get going, I pretty much attack from the gun. My friend Barrett bridges and we have a 2 minute gap pretty quick. 5 miles in the race, I hear pshhhhhh. I ask Barret if that was him, and he confirmed it was me. I had a blowout right off the gun. Probably 3 or 4 miles from the gravel section. So I wait, and wait, and wait, and finally the field passes and the wheel truck comes along. I grab a wheel and it hardly fits in my frame. So I am there struggling to get it in there, and it is just not going. Finally i get my wheel in and I'm off. I begin chasing my brains out. I hit the gravel section and immediately people are flatting like crazy. Left and right people are flatting or being dropped. After the gravel section, I am still trying to chase, except this time I was in a group of people that had been dropped. I was trying so hard to motivate the group to work and at the same time work my brains out. We start going up a small rise and my chain drops. Because the tire is so close to the frame, I can't get the chain back on. By the time I got the chain back on, the chase group was long gone. After chasing yet again, I get another flat. This time I wait for the B race wheel truck to come by and I get a spare from him. I finish, go to the feed zone, and see my step mom standing there. I call it a day and begin catching up with her. It was a good surprise to see her there. Because my team didn't have someone to feed them, I decide I would since my race was done. By the end of the day, my teammates Jeff Mcgrane and Jason Jeasonne went 2-3. It was a good ride for them. Hopefully I will start having better luck. This week, I'm doing some race up in Piney Flatts. hopefully I don't flat in that race and I will be able to show off my form, or lack there off. On Sunday, I just did a 4 hour ride with a little bit of tempo to start things off. Better luck next time for the Crow.
Til Next Time,
The Crow