Sadly, my race recap doesn't warrant much of a lengthy explanation/story. Mike changed up the start this year. After approx. a mile roll out, there was approx. 3 miles of back woods trail riding. This was a real riot on the cx bike. Especially, considering I had the tires pumped way up in anticipation of hard packed dirt roads and road. Cornering was sketchy and there were plenty of riders going down. At about 5 miles we burst out of the trail and were on the pavement. The pace was rather slow in the woods and I was feeling great. I put in a big surge and bridged to a group I could see forming up ahead. Just as I reached the tail end of the group and began to rest in the draft, the group started slowing dramatically and scattered. The terrain had changed from smooth 25mph+ blacktop and the group was greeted by a pothole ridden start to the sticky, muddy surface that would zap the speed from wheels and strength from legs the remainder of the course. I picked the best line I could through the bone chattering potholes and got back on the gas to stay with the group. I was dropped immediately. The group simply road away from me. My bike went from a smooth rolling speed machine to feeling like it was towing an anchor. I looked down convinced I had double flatted. My tires looked fine. Puzzled, I thought to myself that the group must have simply put in a surge. I followed with one of my own. My speed barely increased. I wondered if it could be my choice of tire. I rounded the next corner. I was greeted by a decent sized hill and the group that I had been riding with cresting the top. At this point I realized something must be wrong. I let off the pedals and pulled to the side. Barely coasting as my bike slowed almost immediately to a halt. I attempted to spin my back wheel and immediately realized my rear brake had seized up. Sh*t! I fought with it for what felt like an eternity and finally resorted to simply yanking on the cable as hard as I could which seemed to released it enough to ride. At this point nearly the entire sport and beginner field had past me. The race was over. I spent the next five miles repeatedly stopping and fiddling with my rear brake. At that point, I had backed the barrel adjusters totally out and had to result to taking a large amount of tension out the cable. To the point were my rear brake was nearly useless. I still haven't a close look at it but, suspect my two year old, original cables are seized up with rust.
The rest of the race was extremely uneventful. I released quite a bit of my frustration catching everyone in sight for hard 5 miles or so once I got rolling again. Which I paid for late in the race as the sticky wet mud and hills took their toll. Riding in no man's land certainly didn't help. With the lack of drafting through the day, I rolled across the finish line cleaner than most with my first significant mechanical issue during a race in the books. Bummer.
I ended up 6th in the Expert 30-39 category but, way back there. I took a look at my computer last night. Time on it included walking around after the race and the riding from the finish to my car. Just based on time I spent a minimum of 7 minutes fiddling with my brakes. In reality, likely double that.
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