Lap 11-12
The course is getting super nasty. The last climb has become a peanut butter slugfest due to the rain, and 200 racers, and the sun coming up, and then more rain. We plow through. At the end of our first lap, I hear a funny noise. Powting!! “aw, shit” Matt’s rear disk break spring has popped. He’s rocking with just one break. At the transition point, Matt makes a bike change. We are off again. We finish up; pass it off to the power boys. Our lead continues to grow.

Lap 14-15
Buddy the leg breaker rolls in reporting that Spot Paul flatted. Matt gives me the secret sign, and takes off. A few moments later, Spot Paul rolls in and I’m off. I start chasing hard. Not because I think Matt is trying to drop us, and he could have if he wanted, but because I have had so much fun riding with him, and frankly, riding by myself is kinda lonely. Half way through the first lap, my brakes shit the bed. I got nothing, at transition I have to switch to the Gay UPS truck, which wasn’t totally race prepped. I rip through the first section, only to realize I don’t have enough air in the rear. I stop, air up, and get rolling again. I admit I was pushing with everything I have. I rip around a corner and see Matty walking up the hill. “dude, what’s up!?” I yell out, assuming Matt was walking for me. Matty dejected says, “my break is jammed, it won’t stop rubbing, just go ahead finish up.” I say, “no way, man, we finish this together. Matt and I then deployed strategic walking. Up any uphill, we’d have to walk. This lap was our slowest. Our lead was big, and despite our new climbing technique, no one was passing. So we just kept slogging it out. Now, I would have rather ridden some of that stuff, but a benefit of this slow lap was that it meant Buddy and Paul couldn’t force us out for one extra lap at the end. This was good, because I was spent. Matt and I rolled into the transition area for the last time with big smiles on our faces.

The End.
In the end, Buddy and Paul closed out the deal, and polished off the final two laps together. The 2 Spot Brand Teams tied for the win. The promoters were a little concerned, what do we do? We advised that we were all on the same team, no worries. We planned our work, and worked our plan. Mission Accomplished. Our teams did 16 laps, and won not only our class, but the overall race. So yeah, we got that going for us.