6 hr solo?

Yeah, I know I said I was done with all that enduro stuff, but with the Berryman Epic coming up next weekend, I needed to know I could hang for 60 miles.
It was a tale of a couple mistakes that kept me from the "dub" at the Clinton Lake 3/6hr.....my own mistakes.
First couple hrs were good. Leading the 3 and 6hr race overall by a minute or so and riding pretty comfortable, though a few of those steep climbs on the ss were going to be walking potential later in the day.
My rear tire went soft out on lap 3. No big deal. Pulled out my "big air" co2, screwed on my new, never before used inflation nozzle and started to air up my tire. Nothing came out. The inflator wouldn't screw down far enough to puncture the canister no matter how hard I tried to tighten it......so I waited... 2nd place goes by(1st place 3hr dude) and 2nd place 6hr rider trades me a 16g for my big air, and it worked. Now here is mistake #1. I didn't have enough Stan's in my tire to seal the puncture(way to go mr. mechanic!) So I rode with what air was in the tire, but it wasn't long. I stopped again, and shortly thereafter, John from Salina,KS and also on a ss gave me his pump. I spent the rest of the lap riding...pumping....riding....pumping....etc.
Once back to the pits, I bummed some Stan's from a fellow racer, which solved the problem and I was off, trying to make up some of the 17 minutes I lost on that one stinking lap.
I kept pushing pretty good, riding the steeps and taking a few chances until I could catch back up. The 3hr racers were now off the course and things were really spread out over 8 miles of single track.
After a while the gels,bars and electrolyte drinks just weren't doing it for me(I love ya' Clif Bar, but my stomach didn't). So about 4.5 hrs in I stopped and filled my bottles with water and grabbed a hot dog.....yes a hot dog. I don't know why, it just sounded good. I ended up feeling pretty good too. So after the next lap I stopped again and did the same thing.....this whole time thinking I had a comfortable lead, that is until the scorers said, "good job Justin, your only behind the leader by 11 minutes".....ooops! In the whole lap 3 confusion I lost track of 1 rider. Since I already messed up, I hopped on my bike, finished my hot dog(what the heck, it still tasted good) and went out to see how much time I could make up.
I ended up pulling back 5 minutes, but still crossed the line in 2nd. I did get my 60+ miles as prep for the Berryman race so all was not lost. Legs felt pretty good throughout and other than the puncture, the bike is all sorted out for the epic.....I just need to make sure I add some more Stan's!