One day it was bound to happen. As last years’ BT wrapped up it was announced the 2021 BT would be on October 16th. That date also happens to be the same as my wedding anniversary. Since I have a pretty amazing wife she not only said I could go, but she’d come with me and we would just make a weekend of it.
We headed down in the rain Thursday night to stop in ST. Louis and spend the night and make some stops Friday morning. After an REI stop we found a nice little BBQ joint for lunch and headed to the Huzzah valley.
We met up with some friends when we arrived at Bass’ River resort and made our way to the cabin. Justin and I got a ride to the top and did a little 5 mile ride so he could check out the terrain since it was his first time. I was glad we checked the conditions since it had rained for 2 days.
Race morning started as it normally does. Pancakes and peanut butter!
Scott decided to step up his game this year and we were sent of with a cannon.
Unlike last year I opted to sit in the lead group for the first couple of miles rather than lead the pack. (I regretted that decision last year) For the most part things were pretty uneventful for the first half of the race. The course was slow and the creeks were high due to all of the rain, so my goal of 4:30 was pretty much set aside by the time we hit the first singletrack. I rode well and ended up catching Greg Springborn before the aid station at Berryman. I was two wheels behind him as we hit the checkpoint. I stopped to grab bottles from my marvelous wife. She not only crewed for myself, but three of my friends that were racing as well.
As I left the campground I pushed my pace a bit to catch back up to Greg. I was feeling fine, but the big climbs were still to come, so I didn’t get too carried away. About half a mile later I noticed my front tire getting squishy. After looking for sealant and not seeing any I hit it with a CO2 and took off. About a mile later I noticed it is getting squishy again. This time I saw the small tear in the sidewall weeping sealant. I spent several minutes putting a tube in and had to bum another CO2 off of a passing racer. Several racers including Justin passed me before I was rolling again. After that point I worked pretty hard for quite a while to catch back up. I knew I wouldn’t catch Greg, but I wanted to take back as many spots as I could. Nothing really noteworthy happened the remainder of the race. I was never passed again and succeeded in taking back many spots. I even felt the best I ever have on the last climb in the 7 years I’ve raced this beast.
Total time was 4:55 including nearly 11 minutes stopped messing with my tire. Not too bad with a slow course considering 2-3 years ago I was struggling to get under 5 hours!
The after party was great. Scott even called us up on stage and gave us an anniversary gift.
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