To ensure the troops would have comfortable quarters and a primo place to party, Top Chef and C-Dubs packed up the only vehicle one should take to a race south of the Mason-Dixon line, the Dodge Ram 2500. As you can see, like the early pioneers heading west, our wagon was filled to the brim.
Just to rub a bit of salt in the wounds and let everyone know we were on the road a quick detour was made by Dark Horse Cycles to leave a present for the Mayor.
Needless to say there was a lot of driving to be done and the idea of spending 8 hours in the cab of this truck was not all that appealing. We did everything we could relieve the pain by eating a lot, consuming massive amounts of gooji berries, pretzels and cookies. Suddenly after 7 hours we came upon the only Starbucks of the entire trip. Within seconds we were hammering down massive iced espressos (with 6 shots in each) and were ready to tear it up once we secured the campsite.There was no question that this was the place to be for the race and post race party.
Top Chef lived up to his billing putting out a delicious pork tenderloin dinner with brown rice and black beans.
After drinking all afternoon, dining on a fine pork tenderloin and 2 bottles of red wine we took to the fields for some more partying and late night drunk dialing. As you can see I had tied one on this night but nothing quite matched the endo Paul pulled off when he hit the railroad tie while riding across the field in the dark.
Top Chef is one of our lead technical gurus for bike gear and wanted to optimize the low rolling resistance set up by swithching from a 2.2 to a 1.9. Sadly it was a failed effort with the a tire so hard to get on the rim 6 new tubes were sacrificed in the effort and this was the end result
After changing 6 tubes Paul finally snaps and seeks his revenge
No sooner had the troops arrived then the Mayor established himself in the base camp throne and began barking orders, his favorite one being "Get me another Dale's Pale Ale - PRONTO
The long drive down and the fresh air seemed to have brought out the kinder gentler Mayor, and as we were to learn later that weekend his feminine side as well. We caught this shot of the Mayor practicing his ballet moves for "Dance of the Forest Creatures".
Race day dawned cool and cloudy with temps in the mid 50s and expected to top out in the upper 70s. With the lack of rain over the past week the course was dry, fast but real dusty, everything was in place for some fast times to go down. Close to 600 riders rolled out of Stokesville campground paced by the motocross bikes and finally cut loose right after the iron bridge. With Mike Monte off the front in pursuit of singlespeed glory next up was C-Dubs and Top Chef pulling the train up the first climb and down the ensuing descent.Then suddenly there was an explosion at aide station 1 and women racers were seen running from the Port-o-John holding their noses as Top Chef stepped out and back into the thick of the racing. The sudden shedding of pounds provided a massive lift in both moral and speed and soon after Top Chef was slicing back through the field encouraging the rest of the troops to hop on his wheel for a fast pull.
Over the balance of the race the entire team kept the pedals spinning, struggled with the massive climbs/walks and railed the flowing descents. By the time the dust had settled back in Stokesville and the awards were doled out it was looking like a successful day for the NECS/Dark Horse Cycles crew with Monte scoring the overall in singlespeed and C-Dubs taking 5th in masters. With everyone but the Mayor back at base with cold yeastly malted beverages in their stomachs we all waited in anticipation of the Mayor's arrival.
Mike Montalbano taking top honors in Singlespeed with a blistering 8:02
C-Dubs brings it home in 9:54 and 5th in masters
Major Mike in at 10:31 is ready for the post race pint.
Marc Waters made the most of the race day entry bringing it home on the singlespeed in at 11:14
Top Chef after crossing the line in 11:29 had only this to say "I finished and there is no reason to ever do this again"
Looking to close out some unfinished business the Mayor strategically placed his lights and paced smartly to make the finish. What he didn't count on was the bone jarring descents that left your hands numb and filling loose. Stopping to shake a bit of life back into his hands, the Mayor looked down only to see a juicy timber rattler coiled and ready to strike. With some fast footwork that rivaled the moves of Riverdance and alerting the other riders of the dangers on the course, the Mayor did his best impersonation of Steve Irwin by picking up a rock and smashing it's head in. With the course cleared it was back to the darkening descent. Further down the trail it was a forest of derailleur eating mountain laurel that brought the Mayor to his knees, literally, as the conversion to a singlespeed commenced under the light of a full moon. Finally rolling into aide station 6 with only 12 miles to go and a chain that was dropping all the time, it was beginning to look grim. The saving grace came in the form of a Gary Fisher, and not just any Fisher bike this one was a women's specific complete with a Terry Ti Butterfly saddle!!Well over the course of the next 2 hours the Mayor became a changed man, or should I say woman, because it was a kinder and gentler George, after over 13 hours in the saddle, that crossed the finish line that day.
There was some random babbling about heading to Sweden for possible sexual reassignment but we all attributed it to the Terry Butterfly mangina saddle and going all day without an I.P.A. By the fifth pint it was the good old Mayor that we know.
2 comments:
Way to funny, somehow you managed to capture the "spirit" of the trip.
Mike, this is all about having fun
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