Wednesday, June 27, 2007

 

Spanked and Cranked







Thanks to Jim Harman at EX2 and Bike Lane for putting on a spectabulous event. Looks like it'll be an annual thing. I won't wanna miss it.

Thanks also to our Marines for the use of the fine trails, AND for their service to our country. Ooh-Rah.

The course was 9+ miles of awesome trails with loads of climbing, many a log obstacle, 3 aid stations and a set of some sweet whoops too.


Another cool thing was on course marshalls riding around. Since I spent so much time sitting trailside fixing 3 flats and a seat that just wouldn't sit, I got to see those marshalls more than once.
A few highlights:

Hadn't seen Ant-Won and crew since the Sebring24 in Feb. Great to see them all again. Andy won the solo SS class in a battle that went off at the gun and right down to the wire. Never much more than 20 minutes separating the first 3 for the whole 12 hours. After running 2nd the entire race he passed the leader on the last lap and ended up with enough laps to win solo outright. Even though he's puchased a few bikes since then, Andy is still rockin' the same ButtUgly Bianchi that he was riding when I first met him a few years back. He eats fast and rides fast.
I rode in with him on his 9th lap and he was way deep in the hurt locker, but still managed to crank out 2 more laps.

I have to give props to all those that were out there, but especially the ones (and there's just a few) that are my senior and still out there giv'n 'er. Met AndrewM breifly at Lodi a few years back and was in awe of the lap times he was knocking out. He rolls with the whole whole DCCOD/FZK/SpotBrand crew and all of those guys are wicked fast. AndrewM is a true inspiration.



Blair also found a team and made it up there to burn out some hot laps in preparation for TransRockies. Us old guys can still get dirty.










In the pit area at these races you see all manner of support mechanism. From small pop-ups, to big pop-ups, to whole cities of pop-ups ........ but ya gotta give lottsa love to the guy that comes with a chair, a few jugs of water, and an umbrella.








Gotta give thanks and appreciation to CONTE's our loyal team sponsor, and thanks to ace mechanic Clovis for stayin' late to get the recall work on my bike done in time.








MY SHORT STORY
Rode another preride lap w/Jase and Blair Saturday. No falls. They waited for me. Knee was pretty sore when climbing. Didn't go all the way up there to watch sooooo ......off to the races :

LAY-MANS start - an absolute joy to do in running shoes.

Lap 1 -Drop into single track and POP seat rotates straight up. Some guys help out trail side as all those (few) behind me pass. 15-20 minutes jerkin around with the thing. At least the trail is open and uncrowded when you're DFL.


Lap 2 - seat pops again, twice. WTF. Attempted trail side fixes, ended up going into pits.


Lap 3 and on - succesion of flats. Was running too low pressure, getting sloppy on the log/tree hops. Thanks to all that offered help on the trail. Had to ride back to the car to scrounge for get more tubes/CO2's.
Also started wicked forearm cramps that made it hard/impossible to brake on bumpy downhills. In a way it was good, 'cause I brake too much anyway. Result was me going faster than ever in many sections. Brakes are a drug. I am a junkie. I'm trying to quit. By the end of each lap I could hardly hold the handlebars. Ended up having to stop after each lap to try to stretch the cramps out of my arms. Figured this would be a problem. Haven't done much MTBing this year. Gonna work on that. Shabby performance overall, but was still a great day in the dirt, and my legs felt good. Can't wait to do it again.

One downhill I passed some guy and was going WAY faster than my wimpy comfort level normally allows. Hit the turns at the end barely in control, but rode 'em out. A few minutes later the rider comes up along side and says "Dude, you RIPPED that section." I wanted to tell him I was trying as hard as I could to stop (I WAS), but I think I was still paralyzed with fear and awe.



Laura saw my wreck pictures and tried to out-do me. She had a tough fall on Sunday. Heal quickly.

Now there's 2 of a kind that'll beat a full house. ---->



Credit team Welch for most of the above pictures. I owe you a few, and some DietCoke .......

RideOn and RideSafe

JB

Comments:
Nice one John. See you soon.
No more talking in your sleep.

Take care.

j
 
Sounds like good times. Sorry to read that your bike was letting you down, but great job at keep givn er! Sherando--->july 8...
 
Hi, sounds like fun, darn the mechanicals. It will feel great to do the next event when everything goes perfectly :)
 
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