Once again the overall feel and vibe of the race was incredible. Huge props to CEd, Jodi, and the whole Cobblestone crew for keeping a good thing going, and making it better and better every year. If you enjoy MTBing, and haven't done this event, you're really missing out.





The conditions were dark and cold at the 6PM start. Ed led us around the prologue on the sweet 69er he'd just built and we were off. All endurance MTBraces should take a cue from this race and eliminate the dreaded LeMans start. Sure there were minor log jams here and there, but it gets the fastest cyclists (not the fastest runners) into the single track first.






Shawn Tevendale (Trek/VW) led the solo division for much of the race with Charles Clarkson (Ellsworth) close behind. Clarkson took the lead in the wee hours of the morning only to succomb to numb fingers and toes and a brief bout of blurred vision. The temps just before dawn were in the VERY low 30's.









While Clarkson (-->) was resting and recovering he was passed by Kevin Cox (Natures Path/3Sports) who held on for second place.







Clarkson went back out to solidify his 3rd place while Eric Alger (EVMA) (<--) finished 12 laps just before the cut off time for 4th place solo.


Check Dave Swager's site for some nice photos



Jared Nieters was there with a strong Haymarket Bike (-->) team to win the 4 man Expert/Pro division, but not without a strong fight by local favorites Yoda/Lama (<--) ....














Team Arsenal did what they do, and set a strong consistant pace that wasn't to be matched in the Dou Expert division. Fernando and Robert (NCVC) (--->) were close enough to keep them looking back and took second.





Of course these results are what I saw and totally unofficial!...

As far as my race - It can be summed up by this and this. More details later.

RideOn

JB