May 1st 2010, I woke up not feeling very good, hadn't been for a couple of day's and didn't feel much like racing today but seeing how I had already paid, figured I needed to go. Once I got there and started to seeing people I knew, the bad feeling in my stomach wasn't so bad any more. I ran into Jimmy and Lillace and we talked on the way to sign in. We saw Jared and talked while getting ready for the race and then took off to warm up. It was a 10:00 start and the pace car took us out of town at a slow pace. Once outside the boro limits, the pace car took off and the race was on. I had a good position, about ten rider's off the front and stayed with the lead group for the first six mile's or so and lost contact on the first grade. Just before the right turn off 417 Ted Fuller passed me and for the rest of the race I tried to catch him. Came close on the last climb but couldn't pull it off. I got back out on 417 and and knew I was doing much better than I thought I would. trying to keep Ted in sight, I was working harder than I had so far this year. Everything was going pretty good and I was closing in on the finish line when I had a flat rear tire. I was off the bike and had my tire off and the tube out and new tube back in about two minutes, than I remembered my pump was still on the front seat off my truck, dam. Three Corning riders passed by about the same time but too late to ask for a pump. Then I saw another rider coming and I flagged him down, it was Jason Hungerford, he had a co2 pump and in about thirty seconds I was back in the race. Thanks, Jason. There is a new co2 cartridge at Oswald Cycle works for you and a cold beer sometime. It was only about a mile to the finish and the last few hundred yards was all up hill. I caught up with Jason on the hill, he was having problems with his rear wheel, I shouted some words of encouragement and he finished a few second ahead of me. My time was 1:41 and change and was 30th over all. I lost five places because of my flat but was happy that I finished that well. Jared was 7th over all and first in his age group, Jimmy and Lillace finished 1st in the tandem category or last, how ever you want to look at it. All in all it was a good day for Oswald Cycles Works.
The moving Finger Writes; Having Writ Moves On.
