Not the best race weekend of my life...

But a fun weekend all the same.
4th of July weekend for Indiana mountain bike racers always means the same thing: DINO AMBC at North Vernon, IN.
Saturday was the STXC (short-track cross country) as well as a downhill event (which I didn't partake), and Sunday was the normal full length XC.

(start if the XC [I'm to the right of the pic, {#38}])

Saturday we went over for the STXC, which is only 30mins long, but is a non stop hard effort for the whole 30min. I rode okay, but got caught behind a fumble at the start and had to stop, negotiate, riders, then get going again. On a ~1.5min lap, 5-10seconds lost at the start is a huge coffin nail. Oh well, I rode hard and that counts.


(STXC)
(STXC looking SUPER fast w/ the blurry background)(thanks Matt Link for the action shots)

(STXC)


FF to Sunday for the XC main event. It was much hotter and I wasn't feeling great; legs felt kind of heavy. I got a descent start and was holding well, made some passes, etc. Then I started to not feel so great. My stomach started bugging me when I'd go hard and I just wasn't feeling great, but was pushing through it. Then, w/ ~1.5laps (~45min) to go I flatted on some rocks leading into a creek bed. I kind of thought 'okay, I'll use fixing this flat to recover for a few minutes and get my self together.' I got it fixed, got my wheel on and it went flat again. I thought the rock had cut my tire and the new tube poked through the hole, but after getting home and examining things, I think my spare tube had a hole in it from being in my seat bag for like, 2 years. Regardless, I had no other tube, no more air and was done. My least favorite three letters: DNF. I have to say though, over the years I have had really good luck MTB racing, so I can't get too bummed about a little bad luck.

And the bright side is a lot of my good friends were there, some from out of state, and we got to hang out for awhile. By this picture I'd change out of my cycling cloths and out of my pouty DNF face.
Looking ahead, this month is all about Time Trial racing. There's a Monroiva 40k sereis race this weekend, the state championship is in two weeks and then nationals in two weeks after that.
But I have to work the Muncie Endurathon this weekend first. Always nice to go back to Muncie and see so many people I know so well. And it's a great race too. Barring the drive up, it should be fun!