The Hoo-Ha has been an important race for me the past few years. It has been a part of the AMBC as well as the Kenda Cup. This year the second race of the MARC series and my goal is for top 3 in the overall series.
It was looking to be a tough race…dry course conditions and hot/humid weather. The Cat-2 race was set for one 12-mile lap…it is a demanding course…long climbs…technical descents…fast rolling sections as well.
Got kitted up and spun around for a limited warm up as to not overheat too early. It was a “mass” start…pros, cat-1, and cat-2 were all rolling out together. It was a little hectic to find where to stage…found a few guys in my group and slotted in and waited for the countdown.
Gun goes off and so does the race! I planned on taking the first long field climb mellow and get into a good group. But that was not going to happen…people were everywhere…I ended up pushing up to a few cat-1 riders…we swung into a slightly rocky climb and I was feeling good…then it happened…
My hand slipped and hit my shifter and dropped my chain…so in a panic I shifted to get the chain back on…PING-PONG-PING…chain…broken. No way…I thought my race was finished 7 minutes in. Learning from previous experiences I jumped off and got to work fixing the chain. I had a master link in my pocket, so I knew I just had to get the broken link off…easier said then done. I had no chain-breaker. I just wrenched it off sing my hands and chainstay of the bike…not the best plan but it worked. Threw the chain back on and realized about 90% of the entire field past me…eek…no worries…the goal now was to finish.
Rolled by the finish area out to the climb and saw my girl and let her know why I was so far behind…got a huge smile from her and I went up the climb.
Rest of the race was solid…climbed real well and came down feeling good…passing a large amount of racers along the way.
Finished strong and was pleased with the result…10th…not bad for nearly calling it quits 7 minutes into the effort.
Thanks for reading!
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