BTEpic

First things first, the Berryman Trail Epic mountain bike race is excellent. 55 total miles in the back woods of So.Mo. and about 40 miles of that on pure single track bliss. We had sections of the Ozark Trail and the Berryman Trail that we raced on. All of it was fantastic.
My race, however, was less than spectacular. I lined up with 249 other riders for the 830am stick of dynamite going off that marked the start of our romp through the woods. 6 miles of gravel road stretched things out and I used my timely drafting skills behind some geared riders to leap frog up through the field.
Entering the first section of trail I was riding in a group of about 8 riders, top 20 overall and the 3rd SS. Things were pretty even on the flats and downhill sections, but when the trail pointed up, I was able to push the 32x18 real nice and start picking off guys.
This went on for about 15 miles or so, until I felt my rear tire a little squishy. I pulled off to splash some CO2 in it, but the sidewall had a rock cut. I had 1 tube and 1 big air CO2 at my disposal for the whole race, and this was a little early to start using up all my bullets. The change was made, but within 5 minutes the rear tube was now flat. This was not looking good. I proceeded to panhandle for a tube and more air, which a lot of riders were reluctant to do(and I don't blame them). I finally got my charity items and made the switch as quickly as possible.
So just like any other time I find myself behind, I went out and pushed fairly hard. Luckily there was a lot of climbing so I wound up the One9 and passed alot of riders. This went on for longer than was comfortable, but my legs felt pretty good still had some snap in them for the climbs, so I figured I'd just see how it all would shake out.
Then I cut the front sidewall, suhwheat! I stopped and tried some more air, but I was forced to stop a couple minutes later....again begging for another tube. I was lucky enough to have a fellow rider sacrifice one, changed it and went back at it. I found myself having to get back by some of the same people again. I'm sure they were thinking I needed to learn how to ride this rocky stuff, but oh well!
So before the halfway point I had already cut two tires and punctured a tube. The chances of me getting to the finish without any more screw ups was not good. But, as luck would have it(or lack there of, who knows) I was able to continue to push the limits of the bike and my legs and finish out the race with no other issues.
I finished up in 5:28 and 43rd overall(7th SS)). My ride time on the Garmin was 4:52....that's a lot of flat time! One bright spot to the weekend was that physically I felt really good, sometimes you just can't control what the flat gods throw at you.
We were able to get a post race day ride on some new sections of the Ozark Trail that was every bit as good as the race day stuff. It was a good weekend to be railing single track in So.Mo.