Well that was a lot of fun in the wielding blunt weapons kind of sense. I think I've found my niche for local races - Single Speed! The Expert men are occasionally pouty about having me race in their category and mess up their series point accumulation quests and there is rarely a pro women field at these wee races but the single speeders heckled me on the start line, pushed me about on the course and tried to have their way with me. I felt so included. Warm and fuzzies...
My thanks go out to Quinn Pratt for these photos. Quinn is another of the good guys that make the local bike scene roll. He's both a race director and president of the award winning Color Country Cycling club. He comes out to many of the races to cheer and take photos.
My big 29" wheels rolled up some of the techy rock sections and made them feel a lot easier than on my 26ers. My batting average on this one below is about 0.8 on my 26ers and is a lovely 1.0 on my 29er. It is about a 3 foot lip with a wee cheater rock at the bottom. I get my back wheel hung up on the top lip on my 26er but the big wheels roll right through nicely each time.
I ended up with a 32X21 for the race. Single speed honch Dejay Birtch staged beside me at the start and I asked him what gear he had on his 29er. He had on a 32X18 and I think all the other guys were geared bigger than me too. The race started on a flat road and I was spinning myself silly getting gapped right off the start. By the time the climb started I was 10th out of the 12 starters. BOP! I'd clawed myself up to 6th by the end of the first lap and third by the finish - so a splendid showing for my first adventure into the husky side of SSing. Results are posted here.