Sunday, March 18, 2007

My big surprise...

Above: this could be a familiar sight in 2007... and 2008... and, well, you get the picture!

Above: A very tired, but ecstatic me. Thanks for the pics CVO...

The Nebraska posse was in full effect Saturday at the Spoke Pony Showdown in Independence, MO. It was pretty amazing. To the surprise of noone, Syd Brown crushed the women, and most of the men in the solo 6-hour. She was riding her new Badger frame, which was a handful of tubes less than 24 hours before the race. It didn't even have paint! The graphics consisted of hand-written script in black Sharpie... and it looked awesome. And Syd proved without a doubt that she has the skills and killer instinct to be an incredible mountain bike racer. I can't wait to see her evolve... We may be looking at the 2009 women's national champion? Who knows?

I had quite a surprise however. After getting a good start and running in the top-10 of the 3-hour race (which ran at the same time as the 6-hour), I was able to take the victory in the solo men category in the 6-hour race! For a guy who, two days ago was thinking he was in, ahem... not so good shape (physically) coming into the season, I was especially thankful to have had things go my way, and to be able to prove my doubts wrong.

I'm pretty sure the O-town crew cleaned up in the men's 3-hour race too. But I was racing while their awards ceremony happened, so I'm not sure how it shook out. It looked to me like Kent and Steve Jarrett were laying down the wood up front, and our GB Jay Thomas looked to be having a great day in the 3-hour race, until a crash (I think... according to MW) took him out of the game for a bit. He finished strong though. I saw him hammering, mouth and jersey wide-open for maximum airflow, after his mishap. Jay's in great shape this season, it seems.

I'm also pretty sure Roxy rocked 'em in the 3-hour women's class. Congratulations Rox, and everyone who competed today. It was amazing to be back on singletrack, and not just any singletrack -- the trails at Landahl park were in absolutely amazing shape!

I rode my Dos Niner, and with the combination of 29-inch wheels and the Dos' softail design, I was as comfortable as I could be in a 6 hour, 30 minute race. I'm still hurtin' right now, but not nearly as bad as I would be if I hadn't been on the Dos. I love that bike...

8 comments:

debaser said...

nice going!

MG said...

thanks bryan. :-}
mg

Mark Savery said...

nice work dude...

MG said...

thank you mod!

cheers,
mg

redstone said...

I'm scared to ride with you in Moab this weekend. 3 years of burning the candle at both ends has definitely taken it's toll. Fatigued would be an understatement. Don't make me cry in the desert. :)

Good jub dude!

cvo said...

tuesday night platte river 7:30 wild turkey night ride

Anonymous said...

way to go mg!

MG said...

LOL... i'm not out to hurt anyone this weekend davey. it's all about fun. and i have nowhere in particular to be while we're out there, so however long it takes us is just fine. i'm just there to ride...

i've gotta' be honest with you -- i still don't think i'm great shape. that long, cold winter was gettin' me down - i was inactive a lot in january and february.

perhaps i was inspired by the fact that i was riding my first singletrack in at least two months. perhaps i was inspired by something else. whatever it was that inspired me, i'm thankful it did.

my dos niner kicked ass in the rocks of landahl too. i don't think my back would have survived if i'd have been on a hardtail. it was the perfect weapon for that course.