A Great Day -- Manawa 12-Hour...

Style King -- MOD was the ringleader for the day, and nobody was packing nearly as much style as he was... Good show old chap! Photos by CVO.

Yours truly riding into the sign-in area at the end of lap six.

The sign-in -- Each rider was responsible for writing down their time at the end of each lap. The system worked well, and allowed me time to take a polish dog hand-up from Anne at about hour eight. Thanks Anne!!

Super Sista' Emily Broderson took on the challenge of the Manawa 12-hour solo race and finished with 18-laps. Amazing! Congratulations on your well deserved win Em!

Though it was probably a bit chilly for spectators, it was an awesome day to race Saturday, and race we did. An impressive turnout of 20 solo riders toed the line along with duo, four-person and "unlimited" team riders for the 10am start.

The Lake Manawa course was in great shape considering how dry it'd been leading up to the race. We even got some light rain around mid-race that shaped up a couple of the corners, and it felt pretty good too! There were some bumps on the back-side of the course that kept me on my Dos Niner all-day, despite my pre-race plans of switching to my rigid/SS El Mariachi for at least part of the race. My Dos was the best tool for the job, even if I only used three gears the whole day.

In the end, I was able to take the victory with 24-laps total, and a two-lap lead. Emily was the only female to participate in the solo race, but her 18-laps put her sixth overall in the race. To say I'm impressed with Emily's performance is a severe understatement, but I can't say that I'm surprised. After kicking our butts all the way up to Ponca last week on the 155, it's no surprise she was able to uncork such an awesome performance. Nice ridin' Em!!

My good buddies Brian Drahota and Jim Foben took the V in the duo class with 25 laps total. They had a three-lap lead at the finish. Both Brian and Jim were riding awesome. Jim was on the 155 last week too, and we both mused post-race that the race seemed much easier after doing the 155 than it would have seemed without having ridden it. Brian impressed me with his speed on the first night lap. He was about a minute behind me, and I was having to work hard to keep that gap. Yes, I was watching... and counting. It helps pass the time.

Thanks to Mod, Anne, T-Bone, Charlie and the rest of the crew for putting on such a fun, laid-back race. The Omaha Metro mountain bike series has been a total success this season, and I think it's exactly the type of thing our sport needs to bring new blood into the sport. It was awesome to see so many people, and meet so many people that I'd never seen at a mountain bike race before. That's SUPER RAD! Thank you all once again.

And thanks also to Jason Boucher at Salsa Cycles. I am so fortunate to ride Salsa bikes, and I feel honored to ride and represent for Salsa in our little corner of the world.

Finally, as this may be my last mountain bike race of 2007, thank you to my beautiful wife Laura. I know God loves me when I get to roll over and see her next to me in bed every morning. Without her love and support, I'd be a much different person...