I got to Mcallen Thursday evening and promptly began boozing and wrenching.
I put a fat 42/20 gear on and knocked out.
Woke up relatively early on Friday and went to the trails with my brother to run the course.
I ran into this fella while realizing my gear was wayyy to juicy.
See the red all over his face? He had been munching prickly pears.
Went home and changed the gear to 38/20 and took a nap.
Made it out there at around 7pm that night for another run.
The gear felt great on the trail.
Satisfied with my gear, I put on some new rubber and slimed some new tubes.
I woke early, and got to the race early.
I prepped comfortably.
The start was ok.
They started everyone together, and the stretch of pavement was longer than I expected. Being a SS, I didn't have the high gear and entered the single track in 15th place. In the first lap, I was able to gain 5 spots. I felt I'd be in good shape in the long run.
Well, half way into my second lap, I felt the flat coming.
No biggie, I had slimed up, and had two co2 cartridges.
I aired up and rolled out. I wasn't passed, and I caught back up in like 5 minutes.
D'oh!!!
My tire was low again!
This time i figured that maybe I put too much air the first time, so I put about half the cartridge this time.
NOPE!
No Dice.
I put the rest of the second Co2 and was hoping I would be able to limp into the pits where I could do a tire check and tube change.
I didn't happen.
It didn't hold, and I walked back to the pits.
At least I got a little dirty
Lesson learned: Run a tubeless 1x9 Hard tail or maybe the cross bike.
During my walk I figured I'd try and salvage this weekend with a jaunt out to South Padre Island, which is about an hour from my parents house.
I talked to a buddy who has a place and boat out there and we threw together some spontaneous beach action.
We chilled, drank, fished, and ended the night the SPI Brewery. Their home brew was pretty good, and they fill their pitchers to the max.
This guy came along too:
More pics:
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