Tour de Yikes

Today was the Tour de Tykes mountain bike race in Danville, PA. It was kinda wierd because of all of the life-flight helis that were flying in and out...I hope no one was in them. I got their pretty early (like 3 and a half hours early) because my mom wanted to race the beginner race, so we went down to help her out with stuff before the race. It got much hotter as it came time to start our race, but at least we were in the shade most of the time. The start went pretty good, and I was feeling strong in the beginning of the race. Gunnar and I were some of the first few people up the first climb and into the singletrack. When we hit the singletrack, I was ahead of Gunnar and was feeling really good. Until I heard a pop. I had slashed the sidewall of my tire on something and it was going flat really fast. So I got out my cO2 and filled it up again, thinking the stans would hold it. I had no idea how big that gash in my sidewall really was, and within 100 feet, it went flat again. This time, I was out of cO2 and had to borrow a pump from someone else. I must have been in dead last by the time I got the tire off, because absolutly no one was passing me. I got to cheer on Caleb and Jacob and some other juniors, but the struggle with that tire proved to be a hard one. I finally got the flat fixed, but when I started off again, I was shivering because of the fast start and the sudden stop. It must have been a really old tire, because about a mile later, I flatted again. I had just passed the person I had borrowed the pump from, and I gave the pump back, so I had nothing to inflate the tire. Thanks to another kind person, I was able to continue again. Until I heard screams coming from the valley below. Someone fell really bad, and by the sound of it, it was really really bad. It sounded like the person fell behind me, so I flew down to the bottom of the climb, but didn't see anyone. I continued on the course, and finally found the person. She had a compound fracture on her left arm (when the bone sticks out of the skin) and blood was everywhere. When some other people came down and stayed with her, I rode to the next aid station AS FAST AS I COULD to make sure medical got there as quickly as possible. By that time I was out of all of my energy, and had no motivation to continue. I was impossible for me to win, and a very small chance of getting top 3, and no one was depending on me to ride fast anymore (except for my friends, at least the ones who believe that I race mountain bikes). It was a constant battle against my mental self; I never wanted to DNF a race, but there wasn't any reason for me to continue. I finished anyway though, passing a few other juniors along the way, and making it into 4th place. Looking back on it, I'm actually kinda glad that I had bad luck, because Jacob was able to make the podium. He had always been 4th or 5th; so close but never top 3 in any of the Sport MASS races I've raced this year. I really wanted to win here, because I was born here, and it's the first time I've been back in my life. Gunnar was 1st, Julian Hinkleman was 2nd (I raced him at the Cat Classic), and Jacob was 3rd. I was about 20 minutes from 3rd, but everyone gave it their best. Oh and I hit a tree and can't type that well right now, but I have to type an essay anyway, so I guess I'll learn to type faster.