Here's a little race report to take your mind away from the rain a bit.
This was the 2nd race in the Chainbuster series. Becky and I are racing the coed duo and are in 2nd after the Heritage 6 hr. The forcasted weather had t-storms predicted for the afternoon. After Cohutta last week and the muddy 12 hour of Yargo of last year we were optimistic the rain would hold.
We showed up, got situated and set up our strategy. We had predetermined to draw straws for the 1st lap. The drawing of straws went like this, "Becky, your going to have to go first, I feel like poo" response, "ok". This was Becky's first 12 hour start. I made her position herself way up front with the fast group. I figured she would save more energy getting passed in the ST versus passing folks in the ST, which I wasted a ton if energy on last year. I found out later that they did a 2 mile roll out on pavement basically negating any advantage for the SSers. Becky held her own, as expected. I took out for our 2nd lap, got caught behind some gearies, passed them, clogged up again then passed. The trail was in awesome shape. If the rain holds this race will stay fun. Done with 2, Becky was off with 3
I made a slow shift on the SS by going down a gear. I purposely had a big gear on, not knowing how my back would respond to the effort. The smaller gear made huge difference on our 4th lap. I was starting to feel good and I felt like I was cooking on the trail. The vassago was eating up the trail and I was able to hammer the climbs. We continued the 1 and 1. After the 6 hour riders were off the course we had the trail to ourselves. At this point, we were in 2nd by a minute, behind the 3rd place finishers from Yargo.
Sidebar: Something I enjoy about the duo and the 12 hour is not knowing your competition at the start. Once the day starts to unfold then the real race begins. 6 hours in and now were racing.
I saw the 1st place guy (matt) roll in and the girl (rhonda) take off. Becky came in about 4 minutes behind. I took off, I was not really chasing, just feeling good and riding as consistent as you can on a SS. I popped out of the woods and saw the girl in the distance, heading into the next section of woods, race on. I pushed and reeled her and another rider (Mike Pace) in on a slow grinder ST climb and hammered to the finish. Becky and I made the exchange and off she went. I was ready for lap 6, waiting on Becky, the guy rolls in, makes the exchange. Becky came in and I gave chase again. I caught the girl in the same spot again, but this time I gave myself away. Another exchange and I tell Becky we are barely in first. Laps 7 and 8 were the same, guy rolls in, then Becky, but I didn't see the girl on 8. Found out later she ran her best lap. My brother was there to cheer us on and he helped me do the math to see how many more laps we could do. I would have to do a psuedo night lap and Becky may get to do lap 11. It all depended on how 9 and 10 went.
Looking at our times, Becky and I were very close and consistent. Our competition times were easily 10-15 minutes apart. We shared a pit with some experienced racers and there wisdom told us to keep riding our race (we had 2nd locked up). When you have a fast guy and slower partner, the fast guy can try to do too much and blow.
I lighted up for the next lap. The guy rolls in, but instead of the girl taking off, they throw his lights on and goes. I gave chase and it got darker by the minute in the woods. I turned the lights on, but my lack of night riding limited my technical skills. I finished what felt like a good lap, but there was not enough time for Becky to go back out. We took our 2nd place.
We learned a good bit from this race and learned something about our competition. They tried to squeeze in 11, but she didn't make it back in time.
We ended up with 5 laps each for about 60 miles. 2nd place on SS's and tied for 1st in the series.
Pre race
Ready to rip legs off
Spinning away
Becky killing another trail
Finishing lap 8
Start/finish
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Big Caveman - 2012 Specialized Epic Expert 29er and 2006 Santacruz Superlight - custom burple color
Little Caveman - 2010 Voodoo Hoodoo 26'er - Steel is Still Real / custom build 
