With the passing of my mother in law at Christmas I no longer get to drive to Scarborough and sleep the night before a race closer to the Ganny. So this would be the first race morning long drive to a race in the Ganny. Of course couldn't make it easy so spent till late evening Friday running around moving furniture.
After arriving a little later than planned and getting ready with a little bugging Barry about fixing his lack of singlespeed problem with a Philips screwdriver. A bit after could see the start of the cattle call like gathering at the start line. I now days stay clear of that for as long as possible as standing around waiting doing nothing gives to much time to over think. Spun around the grass a bit more then got in line near the back as I again had no expectations. Well maybe shouldn't say one expectation, that being the venue being the Ganny. And so was expecting there to be potential for a fight.
Dan blew the start whistle and off we where to the first bit of double track and I do admit I started well and seemed to move up easily. But remember this is the Ganny and easy can be an illusion. Then it was onto 10th Line Or Oak Ridges Trail which when raced the other way is The Dirt Road From Hell. Nearing the end things where going pretty good and after some more double track into the the singletrack.
This is to me where the real racing starts because it is where skills and technique can make up time. And just as I was getting going the Ganny striked. A corner where it went from cornering well to a 2 wheel drift to smash. Left knee taking the brunt and I think denting the root I hit with it. After a quick assessment to make sure nothing serious back on the bike. And try to get everything going again. Little did I know that this was actually going to a wee bit harder. Through the singletrack and slowly catching back up to the 2 a head. It would be on the next bit of double track I am guessing about 15k in when the next challenge arrived.
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| Can't see the bone bruise |
After bouncing down the double track and shifting a few times suddenly had grinding as I pedalled. Stop and checked to discover the chain derailed from the lower pulley. Fixed and while later it did it again. Fixed it and it disappered on the singletrack.
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| Hard to see but twisted lower cage. |
Little did I know at the time that in the crash it some who had bent the lower cage of the rear derailleur. Didn't know this till after closer inspection in the Bike Brothel and mounting another one to find out it was bent. Nope, can never be easy in the Ganny. At least the good news is that in the singletrack it never acted up. So it was only at certain points on the doubletrack that the twisted derailleur acted up. And every time had to stop and dick around with this got a rider got past and then had to chase down and re-pass again. Despite this was able to move up a few places before the aid station.
After the aid station it was more singletrack with a side of doubletrack derailleur pain. As I said nothing is ever easy racing in the Ganny. And finally it was the 10k marker where I continued focusing on trying to be smooth through the singletrack. Caught a couple of guys at the 5k mark and kept the flow. Then finally it was just after the 1k mark I caught 2 more riders who if it was another 5k would have opened a gap. But we stayed close the rest of the way. Knowing they where close as we hit the grass before the final 180 degree left hander I wasn't going to take it easy. Not after smashing and fighting a lousy jockey wheel to move up the field. Sprinted to the line and was done.
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Long Sock Clydesdale Results
Grabbed a beer and chair under the Lapdog tent and relaxed after another fight with the Ganny. After a bit it was the awards where Dan called the Clydesdale category and found out that despite the derailleur caused loss of time got third. Despite the drive train issue slowing me down. Oh, did I mention I did this on a antiquated Luddite wheel size?
