Crank the Shield Days Two and Three

A late start?

Sorry, I spent the morning looking at Interbike Dirt Demo photos for no apparent reason. It's not like I'm in the market for a new machine right now, but I can't help myself. Where else am I gonna get info on the latest and greatest Thermos technology?

Back to Crank the Shield...

photo cred: The Original Big Ring

Day two had the potential to be fun. Rocky ATV trails with nasty chunks of slabby rock would abound on this day, but the dry happy trails that we saw in the preview were not... dry and happy that is.

I started the day with some slight pains. Pushing a 33X18 for CtS was not such a good idea since most of the climbing was quite steep and the mud bogs that I did manage to ride through provided a huge amount of resistance to forward progress. Also, I did not do a very good job describing my "over the bars in a puddle" experience yesterday. I managed to get my right leg stuck between my bars and the end of my brake lever where the hydraulic line exits. It was so far wedged in there I had to wrench it free. It didn't seem like a big deal, but it would end up developing into a huge pain in the leg.

So at the start of day two I never saw SS leader Dave Dermont after the start. I was avoiding puddles on the first mud bog section with second place rider Micheal Duncan directly behind me when I fell over sideways into a rather deep bog of murky, smelly "water" and submerged my entire right hand side. Shortly after that I lost some of my desire to be in such a hurry, and Micheal left me behind.

Somehow I managed to catch up to him at the first aid station, but alas once we hit some gravel he put time into me the way a child puts stuffing into a Build-a-Bear... enthusiastically. Once we got to the section of "fun" ATV trails I found myself plunging down one wall of rock straight into a deep section of water only to be faced with a wall of rock to climb over to repeat this all again a thousand times over. Challenging? Yes. Fun? Not so much. I felt like I was fighting for every inch.

Once that bog section was over my right leg was screaming at me to stop moving forward. Unfortunately Peter caught me once we hit the gravel road, and when it turned into rolling pavement he used his "superior mass" to put some time into me. He got as much as a 30 second gap on me, but he stayed in sight the whole time discouraging me and taunting me at the same time. Once the rollers got steep though I started picking on the large and still injured from Breck Epic man, and I dropped him like the smelly turd he is. We hit one more section of double track, and I pinned it to put five minutes into Peter thus getting a small amount of revenge for his merciless trouncing of me in Breckenridge.

photo cred: Peter

Third place again.. meh. The wee little man indeed.

The last day we were supposed to have dry feet at the end of the day. That was canceled. We started at Sir Sam's ski hill and were treated with some excellent singletrack riding for all of 18 minutes before we were spit out onto the road.

photo cred: juoko

Trails? We don't need no stinking trails.

I was riding pretty respectably right behind Ernesto, and Peter was hanging in there as well a few switchbacks further behind in my rearview. Once we hit the pavement though I was dropped by everybody and their second cousin as Peter, Ernesto, and countless others made this little man feel even smaller than actual size.

Sequence-wise I don't remember everything that happened that day. My back was killing me, and my leg was protesting any full circle pedaling motions and anything that felt like walking. I managed to catch back up to Peter and passed him on the power line section, I caught back up to Micheal Duncan before the second aid station, and then I imploded losing Micheal and also 3rd place as Thomas Yip came by me with a smile. No matter. I rode somewhat conservatively protecting my third overall and trying to baby my leg to the finish. I ended the day in fourth, but retained my third overall and managed to end my summer long epic battle with Peter victoriously.

photo cred: Peter

Dave, the established podium veteran, insisted on holding our arms daily as a fisherman might hold up his prize catch. Obviously Micheal and I have not had enough practice to stand on the top step.

Tomorrow, general thoughts and feeling regarding Crank the Shield and perhaps a Meatplow damage report. Maybe I'll bitch about missing Interbike again... maybe.