Mike's Bike Blog

The morning started out on the cold side, but at least there was little to no wind. They had us standing around in staging for what seemed like hours. The wait was compounded by the fact we were in the shade just standing around with riders teeth chattering. Luckily I had brought my arm warmers and had them on along with my leg warmers. One rule for the race that was new to me was if by the 3rd lap they would be pulling riders that had fallen off the back and behind the follow vehicle.

With the thought of being pulled in my mind I made darn sure I stayed with the front group. The pace was quite manageable, the rolling hills kept the race in check. At the end of lap 1 I felt great and had moved up fairly close to the front of the pack.

Lap 2 was more of the same, the pack started to thin out a little but we still were pretty packed in. A few riders would attack but got pulled back in. I was making mental notes of good places to even attack on for lap 3 and the final 4th lap. As we came to the finish line for the end of lap 2 something didn't feel right with my back wheel. It felt like I was getting a flat, I pressed on and surged with the front of the pack and it seemed to get worse. My rear wheel felt sluggish. I made my way over to the right shoulder and slowed down as the main pack went by and along with the follow car and the last of the stragglers. I was surprised to see no flat. I did find later that some of spokes had lost tension and were a little loose. Not sure if this is what I was feeling or what. I'll take it down and get a full diagnosis.

------UPDATE------

When I loaded the bike into the car this morning I did in fact have a flat. At least I wasn't imagining it.