yeah yeah
Actually, that report makes it sound like I did two laps with one leg, which I didn't. I did the last quarter of lap one (~3km) with one crank, bolted it back on in the pits and went out again (also forgot to put my multitool in my pocket before the start. #lesson no.1 when going to a race with your kids - allow more time to do stuff, and make a list of the things you need so you don't forget them...)
Still, good race. All things considered, I did quite well with just one leg. I said to one bloke who came up behind me if he wanted to come through, and he said "no, you're alright, you're going quite quickly for someone with only one crank"
Anyway, the main delight of the race was the singletrack. I've been using the Puffin around the Beacons a lot lately, and as good as the Beacons are and capable the Puffin is on the rocky stuff, flat out woodsy singletrack isn't something we've got a lot of. Turns out the Puffin was vaguely exciting on the twisty stuff. The way you could chuck it into the turns and just grip grip grip meant you could carry lots of speed. There was a lovely off camber left hander over a crest where you could drift both wheels nicely too. Lots of fun. It was mildly annoying that geared riders would pass me on a flat bit and then hold me up on the twisty stuff, but I finally got a clean run at all the singletrack on my last lap and it was ace
33:18 was perhaps a bit light gear-wise, so perhaps 33:17 or 32:16 next year I think
Ian
p.s. taking the right crank arm off doesn't work...
p.p.s I was lucky with punctures too - the bike is sat in the garage with two completely flat tyres now...
