Monday July 28, 2008   Race Reports

WORS #7 Alterra Coffee Bean Classic

Right from the word GO! it proved to be a challenging race, but not in the ways I’m normally accustomed to.

Starting off, the rider right in front of me missed his pedal, which put me near the rear of the pack in the first few hundred feet. Then, shortly before diving into the first bit of single track, the rider I was following went down hard. His bad luck caused me to have a few problems of my own – nearly flying over my handlebars is never fun. Regrouping, I settled in and tried to make it up to the front of the pack.

I felt pretty good throughout most of the first lap, then the stomach problems started to happen. I’m not sure where they came from. Writing this a day later, I’m still having some “issues”. There wasn’t much I could other than try to take it easy from that point on and try to finish.

With my quest for a podium gone until the next event, I made sure to pull over whenever a string of riders needed to pass. No sense in messing up someones race. A big thanks to Mom and Julie. Having them cheer me on kept me from taking a DNF. Final result: 8th in Sport SS, 99th overall. Actually better than I was expecting.

— Jason Henry