#$^*&^*@!!!!!

Those were the words that rang through my head yesterday as I came rolling to a stop along a road in the middle of Southwest Virginia. Only moments before, I was tooling along in the peloton in the 6th Annual Benge's Revenge, 75 mile road race in the heart of SW Virginia's coal country.


My kind of race!


The course features some real treats in the final 10 miles with the 2 mile climb up Powell Valley Mtn and the final climb to the finish at Flag Rock with an average grade of 11% that spikes to 20% in some places.

My day however, ended 23 minutes into the race with a broken spoke on my rear wheel. No team cars, no neutral support, just me, a stray dog and a real bad attitude were all that remained as I watched everyone else disappear over the next rise. I was bummed. I had great legs and was looking for a top ten finish and some morale boost as I have been feeling pretty crappy lately. I tried

Oh well, stuff happens. I waited for a ride back to the start for about 20 minutes and then hung out until my buddy David finished, chatted with some friends and called it a day.

Maybe next year.