Fair Hill

Coming into this race, I knew that I probably wouldn't be able to get another win, but I wanted to try to keep the gap as small as possible. The race started off with a fast pace on the first dusty road and into the singletrack. I was 3rd into the singletrack, behind Noah's wheel. About 20-50 ft ahead of him was Manuel Caliz. On the second section of road, I think we caught Manuel, and then 2 others caught our slipstream. I drifted to the back of the group to minimize wind resistance, and I was going to get ahead for the next bit of singletrack. But on a tight turn, I slid out on some loose gravel. I was on the inside, and there were riders all around me, so I knew that I would hit someone if I stopped turning. I really hoped I didn't fall, but I did. I don't even know what happened, but I have cuts on my hip, back, hand, arm, and my finger and toe are black and blue. So I think I rolled a lot. Got up, and hopped on my bike, but the wheel wouldn't turn...my chain was stuck in the spokes. At first I thought it was broken, but I got it untangled and it was fine. Took me a while to get back up to speed, but I eventually passed a rider and ended up in 4th place. About 5 minutes back. I think I could have done better if I stayed with the group, because after the fall, I rode way to cautiously through the corners. But it's okay, because it wasn't a race that I was expecting to do well in anyway, and I did much better than in the spring race here. Next week is Michaux's Curse of Dark Hollow. I can't wait.