AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got up Sunday for WVMBA #4 at Cooper's Rock. It was a nice steady rain that greated me as I left. I'm getting tired of this. It rained most all of the day before too. Luckily, it stopped for the start of the race and only started in the last half hour so it wasn't too bad. Unfortunately, my bike gave me a never ending headache this race. I thought I got the chain tensioned well enough. Then I used too small a gear. Then I was still a bit shot from the day before . . . .Can someone get me some cheese for this whine? There was another long road section to start. I didn't lose too much time but I was still well back through the field. Once we hit the trail, I started rolling. I felt good, but dammit, the chain just flew off. I got going in again and rolled through the group of riders again and really was feeling the course well. I caught up with Thad Kelley who is one of the race organizers in WV. We've usually wound up racing against each other. Today was one of those cases where I just wasn't going to win it. Mechanicals just kept getting worse. After the 6th time the chain flew off, I finally said the hell with it. I stopped and adjusted the bottom bracket to snug it up. Then after riding a bit, I found I didn't quite get it tightened down enough and it was moving around. Is there no end to the misfortune? Well, you shouldn't ask questions you don't want the answers to. Blowing down one of the final descents, I suddenly got to feel what real fear was like. I was coming down the hill fast and it was a very rocky descent. A squeeze of the brakes produced nothing. I was now going much faster. Ummmm, Houston, we have a problem. The only effect of the brakes now was to not let me pick up as much speed. I was bouncing off the trail but keeping the bike up. I was now going faster on a rocky descent than I ever had before. There were a few riders up ahead. Damn, please let there be a break in the drop soon. I could control the bike with just me on the trail. With others on the trail, I was screwed. It might get ugly. With the riders 20 yards ahead now, I finally got what I really needed. I popped up over a slight rise in the trail and got slowed down to where I could get the bike stopped. Man, that was close. I got some brakes back after goofing with the adjusters. I was still shaking a bit from the cold but more likely the fact that I just dodged a major bullet. Once that was done, I was able to finish in. 11th place considering all that I had to deal with wasn't bad, but it all amounted to in the range of 10 minutes lost. I'm making the notes for next year. Bigger gear and make double sure everything is down tight. My next race is the one where last year, I was up with the very front of my race and riding through the expert field. I was going well right up to the point where I caught Betsy Shogren and started heckling her. That lasted for a bit and in trying to stay with her, I completely blew to pieces not long after. This year, keep my damn mouth shut. It should be a good one since it's a really good single speed course.