Race Report: 3 Hours of the Northern Kettles

I headed down to The WEMs race with my fellow The Bike Hub/Specialized rider Jesse Shoemaker. We were looking for a little challenge and some new trails. $30 entry fee and it was time to get ready. A little warm up and it was time for the race meeting. We set our bikes at the top of a medium sized hill and walked down to the start line. It was a Le Mans style start and we had to run up a gravel road to our bikes. I keep surprising myself with my running ability on these starts. By the time we got to the top of the hill I was in 3rd place. I jumped on my bike and started trying to recover as I spun down the hill. After the hill we went back thru the start/finish area and immediately in to single track. I was in 4th place behind John Lirette, Nathan Guerra and Glenn Krist. Jesse Shoemaker was right behind me. We were hammering pretty hard and Glenn kept putting little gaps on me and I kept waiting for Jesse to catch us. Eventually the pace slowed down some and Glenn and I started riding together. I was feeling good and decided I would ride with him for awhile. Second lap about a mile in Shoe caught us I decided it was time to pass Glenn. Shoe passed him too and the three of us rode together for awhile. Then I screwed up in a slow rocky corner and had to dismount. I was pushing a little too hard. I hammered again and caught Glenn and passed him and rode with Shoe for the rest of the second lap. About 3 miles into the the 3rd lap I hit my front wheel on a rock turned it sideways and endoed. Hard! I slapped my left palm on a rock and bruised it pretty good. Plus some scrapes on my leg and a bent seat. And I derailed. Glenn came by, are you alright? Grunt and nod. And I'm riding again. Hammer time. Caught Glenn again. This time I said I'm not even worthy to pass you. He said, well you keep getting up. Go ahead. So I passed him and tried to catch Shoe again. I caught a glimpse of him before the finish but, wasn't that close. Then right before the end Greg Krieger caught me as I was getting held up by some lap traffic. So I had to put in a little squirt of speed to keep my 4th place. Gotta say the trails there were awesome. The rocks were everywhere but my full suspension made it easy. I only did 3 laps. Nathan Guerra managed to go out and hammer in a 4th lap under the time cut. I won a cup which was fine with me. Shoe still owes me a $10 bill tho. :)