MO State MTB Champs; If It Ain't Broke...

...the classic 'Ain't Broke Don't Fix It' phase was perfect for this past weekend's Down and Dirty race in Warsaw, MO (also the MO State MTB Champs).   Mac and the Truman Bike crew always put their heart and souls into each of the mtb events they host and this was a typical A+ rating for them.  Weeks leading to this the Midwest received a constant dosing of rain, but the 5.8 mile section of trail they selected was not only super fast, but also incredibly dry and mud free.

So back up a couple weeks and I started thinking about throwing gears on the Trek Rig for some upcoming marathon races.  Nice thing about the Rig is the ease of moving from SS to gears and back.  So I switched up and did a handful of gravel rides on the gears and all worked well; even got 1 short trail ride at Sac and except for one chain drop it worked well.  Got the chain catcher dialed in a little better (so I thought) after Sac and figured I was ready for racing.

Sunday morning did the short drive up to Warsaw (1:10hr drive is as local as it gets for us) on a nice cool and dry morning.  Met up with fellow 360 Racing teammates Doug, Terry, Dale, Lyle, and Emily who were all racing their respective age/category events while I toed the line for the marathon.

Pretty small field, but not light on talent.  Long and short: felt pretty good fitness wise in the first lap, but two dropped chains and a Crank Bro Egg Beater pedal crushed on a rock had me chasing hard.  Figured on a five lap race for a little over 3+ hours so settled into a good rhythm for the haul.  Was in forth 1/4 way into the 2nd lap and chain drop number 3 and chain catcher jammed into ring had me simply call it a day; frustrated...

Three years I have raced various SS, open, and marathon events in single speed mode and have had decent success without one single mechanical, so why the heck did I change something up when it wasn't necessary?!?!?!?  Got home, threw all the geared stuff in a box and got the Rig back in SS mode for the upcoming races.  I am a decent mtb'er and love using it to hone handling skills and building base for 'cross, but have never had visions of grandeur so maybe I got caught up in wanting to try and be a 'fast guy' racing instead of riding the way I enjoy (SS).  Oh well, plenty more events coming up.

On the home front, the Saturday before the State race was Darion's 'Gotcha Day'; three years since he walked into our home and hearts.  Deb was with Ian at a basketball tourney in Arkansas (went 2-2) so Jake and I snagged the young man for a fun day.  Started off at D's favorite eat place - IHOP (have no idea why he loves it so), then off to indoor mini-golf, then to Sequiota Park for a huge game of Hide-n-Seek and trail wandering, and wrapped it up with a long bike ride in Bolivar.  It was a great day and D and I loved having Jake with us.

Always funny to see what he chooses to wear next.

Standard breakfast for him when at IHOP; big
question is which to start first...



The kid loves the TRX and it strong for
being pint sized

The night before Ian's Arkansas tourney he played in a three game shoot out with his school team (who are not the most talented group) so to ease the pain I took he and a teammate to Hurts Donut on the way home.  They were impressed with the 'whopper'.