Saturday was the Spring edition of Devil's Backbone Mountaincross. This has quickly become my favorite race. It is much like Ironcross but more road and less Mt. bike trail. Weather was warm but the rain started falling while we were standing at the start line. It was very comfortable and made for a nice day of riding. I was feeling really good but with all of the climbing in this race it is not the best course for someone of my size. Everything was going well leading up the third of four major climbs. At the top of the climb was the final rest stop/ refueling station. From there, there was 17 miles left to race and 13 miles of that was down hill. This is also the point where my bike decided it would rather go through life as a single speed and completely stopped shifting. I was unable to shift into a harder gear to pedal the downhill sections of the course and was passed by 3-5 riders. I ended up finishing in 14th place of the 85 starters. I was satisfied with the result. Hopefully next time will go better and my bike will allow me to shift gears the entire race for a better result.
