Warsaw-The Finale

Well the MWFTCS is over. 13 races completed in a well run series all over the state of Missouri. A few did them all, I did 10 and it was a ton of fun. Truman lake in Warsaw was the location for the last race. The series standings were set for most of the classes so attendance was off a little. Marathon still had 10 riders graced for the first time by an old friend, John Matthews who normally races expert. We didn't pre-ride the course so the first lap was a fact finding mission. John M, John Peiffer, Todd Holtmann and myself with Greg Ott not too far back after taking out his frustrations on a tree, cruised the 8 miles at a reasonable pace. Peiffer flatted at a point near the end very close to the start/finish line. Luckily someone had talked John into bringing an extra wheelset and he ran over, got a wheel and jumped back onto the loop and only lost a few minutes. John and I started to pull away from Todd and soon were riding alone chatting about stuff.

John had a slow leak about half way through the 2nd lap so I rode on while he hit it with some air. I just kept the same pace and it wasn't long before he caught me and we were on our next topic. I preferred riding in 2nd so he could ride whatever pace he wanted. I felt pretty cool and collected the whole time, never putting in any anaerobic efforts. We started lap 3 about 7 minutes before the experts started their hour and a half race. Usually they catch and pass us within an hour or so. Never saw anyone. I could tell John was working harder than I was because I was doing most of the talking. He started asking me how many laps I wanted to do and I said, "as many as I can!". Not what he wanted to hear. He was hurting. We finished lap 4 and he was out of bottles. I tried to give him one of mine as I always make too many. He didn't look good and started cramping right then and there. I waited and tried talking him into going back out but he was done. We had 12 minutes before the cut-off so I went back out.

I rode conservatively on the sharp rocks but blasted everything else. The only exception was a little dip about 3/4 of the way through the loop. On each of my previous laps I had just about rolled my tire off the rim at this spot and I wanted to see why, so I stopped when I came to it. I guess it was just a combination of high speed and the sharp dip because it didn't look like much. I had to be at peace with it though, pay homage. If I didn't stop I knew I would have to ride back out there after the race and look at it. Turned out to be my 2nd fastest lap. I felt like I could have ridden 5 more. With the description I had in my head of the course before the race, I was surprised at how rocky it was. Looking at the lap times, we did our first 3 laps faster than all of the experts, with a SPORT rider setting the pace for the fastest time of the day.

John P rode his way back up to 3rd, Greg took 4th and Todd got 5th. My first win in a while, a long while. I'm glad Matthews raced as it made it a little sweeter. Obviously, Dwayne wasn't there. I guess he thinks his wedding anniversary is more important or something? Whatever :) He got a mondo ride in on Saturday so he didn't miss much.

C Punchor from Team Seagal clinched his series win on Sunday in the single speed class. Nicely done! Seen here wearing only his coveted"Kum n' Go" boxers, he promised he would make a fool of himself as a sign of respect to his absent competitors.



After the race, we feasted on some tasty BBQ and beer. Much wind was broken and we made the long trek back home, that was a huge day.