Sunday, September 16, 2007

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...

16 comments:

debaser said...

Nice job Matt, sounds like i was a good time out there.

Watch for news of SHouse and my ride today, oh my...

mw said...

nice job matt. you've had a great season. glad to have participated on a few of the events with you.

MG said...

thanks guys... mw, you deserve a fair bit of credit for the way i'm riding right now. it was you who showed me how to love riding my bike again, and also how to pace myself for ultra-long distances. you're the standard for me as far as that's concerned. you're the resident ironman.

bryan, that picture of you looking back at s-house and a bunch of other folks on the trail (monarch crest, perhaps?) is just amazing. holy cow... we don't have those kinds of views, or trails around here! i think i gained a whole 2 1/2 feet of elevation in the entire twelve hours of racing at manawa!

thanks again guys,
mg

Emily said...

haha, you 'uncorked' a good one yourself, there, buddy! if there was ever a time when you didn't love riding your bike, i'm real glad you do now.

Biker Bob/Runner Bob said...

Awesome Matt. Great season and it's good to hear you enjoyed it so much.

It is kind of sad that the season is over, but now we can enjoy some relaxed fall riding.

Drop me a line if you ever want to do a Saturday ride here in Omaha. I'm usually available early Saturday mornings. bob (that "AT" thing) bhmi.com

LoupGarou said...

Dude, you were just plain incredible. Congratulations on a great season.

MG said...

right on. thanks emily and bob. both of you have had great race seasons too!

i'm kinda' sad the mountain bike season is over too. it really didn't occur to me until yesterday (sunday) that it was all done.

i'm looking forward to the relaxed fall mountain bike rides too, but even more, i'm getting excited to race cyclocross! it's almost here...

man, those hour long 'cross races are going to go super quickly after these past few weekends' rides.

bob, i'll send you an email in a bit, and we'll figure out when we can hook up for a ride.

emily, for a while riding seemed to be more of an expectation than a love for me, and it took me stepping back and watching mw, you, woodman, ep, kw and others to remind me of how lucky i am. you guys ride because it's what you love to do, and each of you has made it a center of your life in your own unique way.

during the manawa 12-hour, i realized that the reason i like doing the solo races is that it means i get to spend more time riding and less time sitting around. and i know that even if we weren't racing, we'd still be spending long hours in the saddle, just riding along. and that's what's important. that's what i love.

MG said...

thanks kevin!
mg

Butcher said...

Wow. Great job MG. Emily too. Thanks for flying the Salsa flag.

MG said...

Thanks Jason. We do it proudly.

Cheers,
MG

Mike said...

Matt,

We met at the Seven Oaks race in Boone and I came to the Ponca race with Cam. I need to talk to you about a Salsa product in my future. Got rid of the Giant NRS Air and am now looking for a 29" replacemet for the future. Can you please e-mail me at mjlebeda@mchsi.com with your e-mail. I have some questions.

Mike Lebeda

MG said...

Thanks Jason!

Mike, I just sent you an email.

Cheers,
MG

flyers1 said...

Great job, sunshine!
I've been thinking about trying some mountain bike riding next year, maybe doing the Psychopath series as a novice old chick. But I'd need a bike and really don't want to buy another one. Any chance you'd have one in your stable that could be set up for me and that I could borrow? I don't know how I'll take to the sport; maybe I'll love it as much as you do! Anyway let me know what you think.
When's your first cyclocross race and where?
Love,
Mom

MG said...

Thanks Mom -- That'd be cool to have you try some off-road riding. Stuff like the trail at Lake Manawa would be do-able on your Trek if we installed a little wider, knobbier tires. That might be the best place to start.

All of my mountain bikes would be pretty big for you, unfortunately, so they wouldn't fit you quite right, but let me think about that... I might have something tucked away that I'm not remembering right off.

I think my first 'cross race will likely be over in Newton, Iowa on Sept. 29. My first race in Nebraska won't likely be until October 20-21, in Omaha. We'll race in Lincoln the weekend of November 17-18.

Love you,
MG

Cornbread said...

Well done Matt!

MG said...

thanks corey. i know it'd have been a much tougher challenge had you been in the mix!!

hope you're feeling better, and that we get to ride together soon.

cheers,
mg