the most horrible thing ever

Well, there isn't much to say about this year's most horrible thing ever. At 1:30am, just an hour and a half into the race, I made the turn onto Cove Creek and right after the single track started my front wheel washed out, skipped forward a few times and I crashed hard. I jumped up, realized I was okay and immediately grabbed the bike and checked the front tire. It had sounded like a bomb went off but much to my relief the tire still had air so I wouldn't have to worry about a messy tubeless tire change. I got right back on the bike and took off but right away something didn't feel quite right. I looked down and saw that the rim was very bent and hitting the fork. That wasn't good.

I managed to make it a little better but it still had a serious bend and riding on it for the next 34 hours didn't seem like a good idea. It was the start of the race and I was feeling good and looking forward to the next day and a half of crazy racing and just like that I knew it was over. Going home or to the Hub for another wheel would mean losing 3 hours or more and that was just too much to loose. And that was that.

Even though I was quitting I still wanted to play all night so I rode up to the top of Pilot Mtn. Rd with John T. just for fun and then bailed straight back down to the campground. We hung out around the campfire and watched as Charlie and Chris both came and went. Then as dawn was breaking we went and hiked up to the top of Black Mtn. trail to get the gnome. After that it was just one more Saturday night spent hanging out around the fire with a few friends.