Due to my spring training I had my hopes up for a good result, and after riding some of the same roads a few weeks ago was expecting a fast, dry, and hard packed course. Unfortunately for me, and others who decided to bring a road bike, the roads had been freshly graded and there was a ton of deep loose gravel with golf ball sized rocks. It brought me to a near standstill in places and there were a few crashes.
The gravel turned out to be fairly inconsequential for me, though, because my front tire went flat about a mile from the start. Not sure why, I didn't find anything in the tire- maybe it was just a worn out tube. After a mishap in my rush to change the tube, my co2 was burned and I had to refill with the hand pump, which turned my flat into a 7min stop. So I was way off the back by myself with no choice but to get riding. It actually wasn't long before I started catching other riders, as I was not the only person to have mechanical issues. Ivan had two flats before the start and then another one a few miles in. Then I caught Emily and Jesus, who had also flatted, a guy with a broken spoke, and then a few more riders. I came up to Luke in the rougher gravel section, he had crashed in gravel somewhere and was taking things really easy. I could see two other riders ahead, but 2 hours worth of food, water, and electrolytes on a 3 hour ride combined with pushing the pace caught up to me and I barely made it up the final climb. I got there and had to lay down in the grass for awhile, then forced some coke and chips down to get me back to the post race meal.
Here are the results, and my strava:
I managed to crawl back up to 11th place, and aside from the lead group of 5 was not actually that far back by the end. I don't think I would have been able to hang with the leaders through the gravel on my road bike though, and might have even gotten hurt trying, so maybe that flat tire was for the best.
Once again Matt and Wayne put on an awesome event, and the food back at Wayne's house was great. Next year is the 10th anniversary, so mark it on your calendars. And bring a cross bike.
After the race, I went into Polson and filled a growler at the brewery, then headed to Hot Springs where some friends had ridden from Ravalli. We camped out on the lawn, had some beers, and sat in the pools, which was exactly what I needed after the race. The Symes hotel, and the town of Hot Springs, are definitely an... "interesting" place. They are pretty lax about what goes on so things can get a little rowdy, and the pools are officially open until midnight, and we were told later was fine as long as you're quiet. They also get a little grimy by the end of the day (and I suppose I contributed more than my fair share). I made sure to shower thoroughly before bed.
Next events are the Rocky Mountain Roubaix in Frenchtown on April 24rd, and then the MT Hell Ride the 30th. I bought some new tires for those events- 27mm Vittoria Paves. My 28 maxxis refuses are very durable, but heavy and slow. The vittorias are a really high thread count hand made tire meant for racing on rough roads, so they should be the ticket after my triple flat at Roubaix last year on 23s.
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