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We left Derek on an overnight visit to Doodah and Poppa's house (grandma and grandpa.) That way, we were able to get up early and drive to the race. The bike rack is on the Wrangler so that Brian can go biking right after work on the days when he doesn't have a meeting. The Wrangler is a real pain to get the baby seat into, so we'd rather not have to take Derek with us.
We got to the race location, Ft. Custer recreation area, in plenty of time. Brian got registered, and he got his bike out and checked the tire pressure and rode around a bit. His rear brake wasn't working very well, so he consulted with the bike mechanic and they fixed it up. He was ready to race!
The trail, according to the guys we talked to, was supposed to not be that difficult compared to some of the trails Brian rides on (Pinckney is one that I think they mentioned being pretty tough.) Brian was looking forward to having a much better race than last time.
However, it was not to be. At the start, Brian headed off, pedalled a few feet, and his chain snapped! A great disappointment. He fixed that, but by then his classification had departed. He left last of all.
I had an hour to wait by the finish line. (I brought a book to read.) I waited and waited. After an hour and a half had passed, I knew that Brian had suffered a technical difficulty again. And I was right-here he came, trudging up the trail towards the finish line, toting his bike. About two-thirds through the course, his chain had snapped again, in two places, this time.
I was very proud of Brian for the way he handled these disappointments. He was not the only rider to have mechanical failure, and earlier we had witnessed one man actually throw his broken bicycle down to the ground in anger, a display of extremely poor sportsmanship. Brian was very composed about his own turn of events, and took it all in stride. After the first two mechanical failures, he still had been keen to finish the race, and finish he did. He is a winner in my book!
Brian reported that he had been doing very well on the trail before the last broken chain, so he is very enthusiastic about his next race, even though he is disappointed at not having a good go this time.