Tour of Pelhan, Ontario

I really got in touch with my inner Fred today. Started off last night by having to steal a bottom bracket off the TT bike and bolting it up kind of late and figuring it'd work OK. Late start today, family had to bail at the last minute so did the quick drive to Canada alone. Got to race with maybe 20 mins to start, finally got suited up with about 7 minutes to warm up, no worries until the chain starts skipping. Upon inspection one of the pins was half way out, oof. Back to car for a chain tool, having no luck with the repair. Rode toward start line with 3 mins to start and bike isn't working at all. Figure I have to do the repair right and remove a link and press the link back in the old fashioned way. I'm fumbling around and dropping stuff and it's start time now. I hear the motorcycle and here comes the race, and there goes the race. I finally get the pin in and shove the tool in my pocket and jump in around 75th. place. The first 5 miles are on some twisty, hilly dirt roads and the people back here are riding like granny, so I put my head down and just kind of weave my way through the squealing brakes. After about 10 minutes of chasing I see what looks to be the lead pack maybe 100m off the front, so I ride across the windy gap and finally make it up there. The pack was going kind of slow (hence my being able to catch them) because there were two riders on the same team as the one rider off the front, a real strong cyclocrosser who wold stay gone for the duration. I'm spanked from chasing, so I sit in the group and have a drink and take stock. We hit the first trail section and I'm in second spot, doing OK through the woods behind another cyclocross star.
We hit a gravel uphill and I decide to run it, which turns out to be a really stupid move, so I drop two place right there. We hit a really slippery muddy icy section of trail with off camber clay and icy snowmelt, I make a few more mistakes and drop back to 6th. We hit the roads again and I chase back up to 5th, he's sitting on my wheel in the winds but I don't care at this point as we are out of contention anyway.
After a spell, we hit the last off road section of the day, where I get a rear flat. I ask a volunteer how much further and it's just a click and a half, so I just ride it in on the rim, Almost wiping out in front of the OPP officer on the last corner. I manage to drop another place on the run in and finish 7th.
On a positive note, the snow tires and snow thrower are put away, let the season begin.