PMBAR Aftermath (not glow)

The 15th annual PMBAR is in the books.  I've done the past fourteen.  More than anyone else... so you'd think I was pretty good at playing the game.

photo cred: Blair at Trace Ridge CP

Mebbe I'm at least good'ish?

I didn't start taking it seriously until 2008.  Up until that point, it was all about getting the minimum number of checkpoints and the maximum amount of beer.  Once I decided it was something I wanted to take seriously, that was the year of the hardest PMBAR ever.  It took Elk and I 12hr 14min to snag second overall.  Ouch.  Since then, I've been all over the place.  Good performances, bad performances, unofficial finishes to a DNF because I finished without the most important thing (a partner), but never a year with a perfect route.  Never.

So I'll sit and dwell on that for 365 days or so.

At least I had a lot to do on Sunday to help keep me from looking at a map and dragging a cursor across a screen to see just how bad my error was.

A whole lotta that mud is from coming down South Mills unnecessarily towards the end.  More salt in the wounds.

If this is how bad things are on the outside, imagine what's going on inside.

I'd already pulled a rag through the bottom bracket shell to get rid of all the crud before pulling the seals.  Yeth, that's water in there.  Water that would make for some nice rusty bits had I left it alone more than a day or two.  If you did PMBAR and haven't taken a look yet, good luck.  Fortunately, when I pulled the end caps off my new Industry Nine wheels, there was no moisture in there.  Bueno.

Speaking of moisture, every time there's a wet PMBAR, this happens:

I drank about three and a half bottles over the course of 9hrs 50min.  That's what I finished carrying around the rest of the day after our second refill at the North Mills bathroom.  Despite that, I still stopped to pee five or six times.  I don't get it either.

Something else crazy, I can't believe I was able to address our mechanical issues with nothing more than this:

Call me stupid, but the fact that had we (me) not fucked up, two of the top four teams woulda been on rigid single speeds*.  Sure, we take a certain amount of beat down and fatigue descending through the Pigsah gnar, but they sure are great for hike-a-bikes, gravel climbs, and reliability.  I get that it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I sure do love the fact that it works for me.  Both times that I stood on the second step overall, my partner (Elk and Thad) and I were on rigid single speeds.

Obvs, YRMV.

So, I'm gonna do my best to not kick myself in the balls every three of four minutes and mebbe focus on the future and all the fun I've got in store.  Many chances to have a good time are not too far off.  Other than PMBAR, I've got no real "goals" as far as performance in 2017.  Just good times and good trails.  The pressure's off and it's time to give fuck all.

Mebbe.

* Doh.  Just received word that Matt Sweeney was sprung up front.  Apology.