'11 darkhorse40

Another Darkhorse40 has come and gone. This one was a lot of fun on many levels.

It was another hot day as in years past, while the trails were fairly dry which has been difficult to find in Stewart this year. The course was much different than last year and a lot of fun. It is nice to get on different trails within Stewart Forest that have not really been used in previous races before. That makes for an exciting event and also attracts the same people year in and year out (along with lots of new people).

This year was a full house. 400 something total racers converged on Stewart Forest over in New York. The singlespeed field has 46 racers complete the event with a few more starting. In a field that large you are bound to have quite a few really fast guys in the mix. We had our work cut out for us yesterday..

Photo: GTLuke @ teamnotights.com

After 40 miles of racing, one flat tire and a bunch of forearm and leg cramping on lap two I finished in 9th place within the Singlespeed field at a time of 3hrs 37minutes. This is a new personal record for me. Certainly being in the top 10. Last year I had a lot of issues with the heat and finished in 3hrs 56minutes waaay back in 33rd place.

I was riding with Jay from Bike29.com for most of lap one and even pulled away from him sometime before I flatted. He finished 5th and only 7 minutes ahead of me. When I tell you about my flat you'll see why I lost those 7 minutes.

All in all it was a fun day and my body is still recovering. Its mainly just tired. Not tired from cramping but tired from working so hard.

Thanks again George, Mike and Hawaiian Mike for a stellar job well done. It was another successful Darkhorse Cycles event.