The Definition of Character Building?

Having had a near disaster race at the Nationals only a few weeks back and with not much time to really rectify the form, I went in with the mindset of no form and no expectations. Lined up in elite mens thinking I am little out of my depth to be honest, anyway the gun went and the pace was on with Jet Racing trying to control the front however I noticed James Downing had attacked early. I boosted up the left hand side and found myself in the middle of the pack and tried to settle into a good rythem, I had no intentions of trying the fast boys and wanted to race my own race.

First 10km went by in the blur, I wasnt to far behind Jenny Fay and a few others and was happy with how I was going until the 1st of my mechanicals struck, somehow my front derailer had got bent/twisted and meant that I had no big ring or little ring. I stopped at the first feed, no mechanic there, so was forced to ride on. I picked up my first puncture at about 30km, tyre had sealed, but lost heap of air, borrowed a pump, put some air in and away I went again, lost about 5mins doing that. 50km feed, still no mechanic, so still a buggered mech and a nice dry chain, basically on the fireroads I couldnt push anything more than 20km a hour, picked up another puncture, this one sealed but not without leaking a ton of sealent everywhere and a lot of air, in the end I was forced to stop, take the tire off and stick a tube in, lost about 20mins here as well I reckon.

When I finally made it to the 75km feed, there was a mechanic who sorted everything, sorted the front mech so I could shift, used a track pump to get some decent pressure into the tube and finally some lube. Last 20km flew by with the determination to make sure I finished under 6 hours in my mind, I just pushed on and finally crossed the line.

So the sum of all things, 3 mechanicals, I lost a clear 30mins due to mechanicals and prolly even more due to the lack of top end speed, I may have been the last elite over the line, but I was pleased I finished when plenty of others would of thrown in the towl. I think I prolly would of crept in at around the 5h mark as I felt I was getting stronger as the race went on. I am pleased to be back on the dirt, so bring on the Shimano 4 Hour next week.

Finally, the bog holes/creeks etc, what a nightmare, like Ants has said I have series concerns about that race and I will prolly give it a miss in the future simply because of all those mud pits, it doesnt make fun racing.

http://app.strava.com/activities/12149935#