Alberta Provincial Mtn Bike Championships

[Fehlmann]

Unfortunately a mechanical forced me to dnf. Half ways into the race i broke my chain and was unable to repair it. I was sitting in a very good position until then in 4th position moving up slowly just 2-3 min. behind the leader. The race was unusually long for an olympic distance race, so i knew to pace myself and slowly get faster as the race goes on. I wish i could have finished the race without a mechanical, but i guess that is also part of racing, and next time i will carry a chain tool with a sram quick connect link.
My next race will be the Hill Climb Champs in Banff Alberta, the same day as the Revelstoke Hill Climb, I am looking forward to it and have now a few days to prepare for it.

Manuel

[Andrew]

Tragic....sounds like you were in a fabulous spot, and were making very good decisions, that were based on some of your recent race experiences. It is a shame you were not able to see this through to the finish. It reminds me of Geoff and Seamus at the Olympics in Beijing, where they were both in the top ten, and in fact Geoff had been leading teh race, when torn tires made finshing impossible. What a tough blow to occur at one of the biggest races of their lives.

It is sometimes tough to remain objective about this when you have worked so hard for something, and I appreciate how you have decided to deal with this at future races.

We saw some of the new "quick release" chains in Europe, which work beautifully, and allow for quick dismantling for cleaning, but also in a race situation. Certainly worth considering in the future.

As for the Hill Climb Championships, I wish you all the best, and will look forward to hearing your results. Go get 'em!!!!