FUCK. That's all I can say. An entire summer spent training for one race and I would have something go wrong. Things started out great. The course was in perfect condition. Nice and tacky, not too muddy. I pounded out 3 laps, no problem. I was wearing my brand new Specialized Pro Carbon shoes. It was my first time riding these shoes and hadn't "broken" them in yet.  Lap 4 I started to have some knee pain. I should have right then and there changed back to my old shoes but I waited until the start of lap 6. By that point my right knee was throbbing pretty bad. I thought meh, I can ride through it. But after two laps with some really bad knee pain I took a break. So there I was, just after 5am with 7 laps under my belt. My goal of 15 laps looked attainable. I rested for about and hour and got up. I could barely walk. I hopped on the bike and my knee wouldn't even let me do the motion of pedaling, let alone put pressure on it. Right then and there I knew my 2007 24 Hours of Afton was over. 7 laps, about 42 miles, and just over 7 hours of riding. I hung around until about 3pm to watch some racing, but I was in such a shame spiral I had to leave. Its kinda depressing. I spent all summer training for this race, only to come out of it racing half the time. So there it is folks. BAQFUP is done. Next year, I plan to race afton again, but also do another 24 hour race at the end of sept. called the 24 Hours of Langdahl. Its in Missouri. I think I might take a year off of the MNSCS and do some endurance races in Wisconson. This will be the last entry on this blog for awhile. In the meantime you can catch up on my usual dribble on my "real blog" The Aldrich Ave Weekly 

Ciao,
Bad Andy