A great sport

I bought a set of NiteRider lights for my first 24 Hours of Snowshoe. Five years and five granny gear races later the 10 watt lights for my helmet and handlebars haven't let me down yet. Halfway through a night lap this weekend I took a little tumble while bombing through some of that sweet single track and came out of it missing a cleat bolt. I spent some time struggling to straighten out the misaligned cleat with the one remaining stripped bolt. I had timed the burn rate and cycled my batteries before the race. The cleat setback put me in trouble.

Around mile 10 my helmet light went dead- I knew I had max 5 minutes left in my handle bar light. Sure enough, before marker 11 I had to come to a halt as I slowly went blind in the dark woods. That's when I met one of the true sports that make this the greatest event to take part in- George on team 72. I could hear him before I could see him. That squishy, squeaky noise was George riding on a flat rear tire. I fell in line behind him hoping he'd light the way for that last mile. We traded stories, sympathizing with each other's misfortune. We laughed about the flat leading the blind. Then came the offer: "Hey, I'm going to be limping this last stretch anyway, take my battery." Wow. I can't thank George enough for his generosity. He gave me the opportunity to finish out my lap strong. We might all be competitors, but this kind act goes to show we're all friends first in this crazy sport.

-Matt S
People's Meat Racing #69