Pando

Drove up to Pando with my dad, which is a rare treat since I usually drive solo.  I'm nervous about finishing dead last in Expert/Elite SingleSpeed.
We parked, I did my usual ceremonial number plate attaching, bent back the sides for ultimate aero, did some spinning around to warm up.  Said my usual prayer: "thank you for the ability to race bikes, please God grant me with safety, reliability, and speed"
I was in third at the gun, but immediatly went to 2nd when some guy's chain blew right then and there.  Sucks to be him.  The unique thing about Pando is going up and down ski hills.  You go up and then down immediately at the start.  I spent half the first lap drafting 1st place but came to the slow realization that it was probably in vain.  My heart monitor showed me at redline.  I knew I couldn't maintain this pace and I did in fact get passed by a guy on a rare sliding dropout Giant xtc 26er aluminum to put me in 3rd, and then pulled away a bit. I nearly caught them both at the downhill leading into a hairpin turn to start lap 2 but just as I set up for the uphill I suddenly had zero power.  Looked down to see my chain was off.  Pulled out my handy dandy SingleSpeed SuperTool, which amounts to a 5mm hex wrench taped to a BigAir Co2 can.  One of the retaining bolts on my DMR chain tensioner had crossthreaded itself out (I'm way too good a mechanic to do that ya know) last night when I switched gears from my usual 42x18 to stump pullin 42x22.  Crap.  Sucks to be me. But i got it going and passed the 4th place rider on a straight. 
Some one yells at me that I'm a minute behind 2nd place, so I decide to push on even harder, but this proves harder than usual as I'm all alone on course.  Sometime during lap 2 my chain falls off again and I fix it the best I can.   I'm then caught by a geared rider who seems content to draft me, but this is the motivation I need to get going.  I'm back to full race pace now, 90% HR and runnin' hard.  I notice Mr. Xtc on the side of the trail fixing his skewer.  I ask if he's ok and he asks if I have an extra rear skewer.  I dont even have one at home.  So on we go, after a while I let the  geared rider go so I can conserve energy for a bit but repass him about 5min later.  I'm keeping careful watch on my HR.  Dont want to slow down too much and let 3rd place catch me.  There are some really flowy, techy sections here at Pando and I'm having an absolute ball flying through them.  I make the sign of the cross and say a little prayer: "please God let this chain stay on!" And it does for the remainder.  "just dont worry, God will take care of me as long as I have faith". And He did. 
I hang on to 2nd place, my best finish ever, until lap 4.  Some riders catch me but I'm placated as I can hear them shifting, etc.  They are not in my class, but I'm runnin' it as fast as I can through the techy sections and on the. downhills I'm getting my butt behind my seat and head at handlebar level for maximum aero.  I just can't beleive more riders dont do this, I hit 36 mph on the final downhill leading to the final uphill and I catch a geared guy who'd previously been just ahead of me.  He takes the proper line away, so I lean it as hard as I can, stand up, sprint with everything I've got left, re-pass him then he shifts gears, passes me again, someone yells out "who wants it more!?".  Me. But I'm powerless to stop a geared rider up a ski hill. 
I've finished 2nd in Expert/Elite SingleSpeed, my best finish ever!  Even if those two other rider hadnt had mechanicals, I'd still have come in 4th which again would have been my best finish.
On the way home, we're scrambling to find a Grand Rapids radio station playing the Lions game, but we find one just in time to listen to them pull it out in OT.  Got home, gave the gf a big hug and kiss.  All in All, a great day.