SMP ENDURO

I had been looking forward to the Shawnee Mission Park 3/6 since I saw the schedule come out. Since Amber and I's apartment is a 15 minute pedal from the singletrack I end up there a good bit. I just decided a couple of weeks ago that I wanted to do the 6 hour, I have put in a solid handful of 4+ hour rides, and figured it would be a cool event to try and win. The race started with the traditional Le Mans run, where I promptly felt like my calf was about to cramp up, wonderful. My first 2 laps I rode quite conservatively, I knew the rocks and heat were going to take a major toll. I also figured flat tires could play a role and since I was unable to get my rear tire to set up tubeless the day before I was racing with a tube and quite worried about it lasting. At the end of my 2nd lap I believe I was down 4-5 minutes on Jeff Winkler. On the 3rd lap I took back a couple of minutes, and caught him half way around the 4th lap. At that point I tried to settle in and keep my eye on the long haul. I never stopped during the race, Amber did a great job of keeping everything ready so I could roll through grab my 2 bottles, sport beans, and pretzels, and keep on. It was tough race, my hands and arms were tired, luckily my legs stayed fairly strong throughout the race. I rolled out of the woods on my 11th lap and heard two minutes to go until 6:00. I did not need to sprint in and go out again so I cruised and finished right a 6:00. Nice day of riding. Thank You to th Heartland Race Crew, Amber, and everyone who came out to make this inaugural event a success