Sunday, August 31, 2008

24 Hours of Seven Oaks... Working to Keep it Fun.

The 24 Hours of Seven Oaks ended at noon today, and I gotta' say, I was glad to see the finish of that one -- I was shelled. I am shelled! But in the end, I finished the race in third place with 15 laps. Andrew Carney won it with 18 laps. Jesse Bergman was second with 16 laps. I might have been able to stay on the same lap as Jesse, but his lightning-fast pit stops were faster than I wanted to go. I wanted to take a little longer breaks when I stopped... And you know what? I'm not sorry I did it that way. Second or third place really doesn't matter. What matters was that I had fun... and I did. At times, I had to remind myself that I was having fun, but in the end, it was a ton of fun.

And overall, it was an awesome race. The course was TOUGH. All singletrack. Super steep. Troy, Kyle and all of the guys over there did a killer job putting together a great course, but it was still extra gnarly from the flooding earlier in the season. It took its toll on my body. Tomorrow will not be pretty...

Perfect pair: Contrary to what I would have guessed going in, I ended up splitting my time almost evenly between my Dos Niner and my red El Mariachi. On Saturday, I was really feelin' it on the El Mariachi, where Sunday was the Dos' day in the sun. The Maverick SC32 fork on my Dos is finally breaking in -- I could definitely feel that riding both bikes back-to-back. It keeps getting better, while my clapped-out Reba on the El M just keeps getting worse. Perhaps it's finally new bushing time for that fork?

Results are posted.

Thanks a million to my beautiful wife Laura for her awesome support all weekend, and to Dan and Loyie, my in-laws, and Laura's sister Carrie, her husband Dave and our nieces Miranda and Melia for coming out to the race and cheering and supporting me duirng the race. That was so fun to be able to have you guys all cheering for me at the start of each lap like you were -- thank you so much!! I love you all.

Thanks also to Rob V. at Oakley -- I wouldn't have had night vision without ya', brother, and to Jason B. at Salsa Cycles and Nate and the guys down at Monkey Wrench Cycles -- thank you for your support of my riding and racing (and thanks Nate, specifically for the use of your EZ UP). I'm always amazed at how many Salsa bicycles there are in Iowa. For as many as I ever think we have over here in Nebraska, a trip to any race in Iowa proves there are more Salsas just across the river. But it was very cool to come in at the end of every lap and have guys and gals giving me the "Go Salsa guy!" cheer. Thank you very much!

All this and the weekend isn't even over. Very sweet... I hope it's been a great weekend for you all too.

Cheers,
MG


12 comments:

Unknown said...

Great Job Matt. 24 on Boone does thee body in for sure.....I took the easy way out this year:)


Peace

MG said...

Thanks Squirrel. We missed your awesome spirit at the race, man. I know you've been taking a break from racing lately, and that's totally cool, because I know you're still riding and having fun. Just keep doin' it on your terms and it's all good.

Thanks again brother. Hope to hook up with you for a ride soon. HFF??? Sure hope so.

Cheers,
MG

GNAT said...

Nice job MG. Thanks for flying the Salsa colors. Our little brand is quietly growing here in the Midwest. Thanks to you and the Nebraska crew for you part in that.

Guitar Ted said...

Great ridin' MG. I've already heard some horror stories of heat and how tough it was......and I wasn't even there. Word spreads fast, I guess.

Anyway, sorry I couldn't make it. I missed seeing you and the other folks I know.

Nice to see you pull off another great finish.

MG said...

Thanks guys. Jason, you would have railed that Seven Oaks singletrack. Let me tell you, brother.

And Guitar Ted, we sure missed you down there man, but thanks for the kind words. It got a little hot, but I gotta' be honest with you. For a kid from Nebraska, that wasn't too bad, as far as heat goes. I was sweatin' -- don't get me wrong. But man, I've certainly had days where it's been waaaaay more dire than it was at any point at Seven Oaks. That said, I was definitely not pushing myself into the red zone. I hurt today, but I didn't hurt myself to do what I did. It's just normal muscle soreness. I'm actually going to put a light on my bike and go for a ride right now (at 9:20pm Monday night).

Thanks again, my friends.

Cheers,
MG

redstone said...

Hope you got a good night ride in homey. Great job in IA, too. You probably thought you'd never hear me say it, but I'm doing Moab 24 again. Little different approach this time, though. 4 dude strictly fun hog team. Mandatory 1 beer penalty at the mention of anything competitive. :) We'll do our best to work to keep it fun. heh heh.

Jason said...

Nice job! You rock.

MG said...

LOL... And I had beer in the car too Dave. I should have taken your "beer-a-lap" advice. I'm sure you guys will accomplish your goal at Moab. It'll be easy to party it up out there! Heck, it might not be too hard to talk me into coming out and spinnin' wrenches for you if you want. I think I might owe you one from about a decade ago! I might have the Big Mama by then, so that'd be a sweet way to break 'er in, if so.

Thanks Jason!! I appreciate it, brother.

Cheers,
MG

Carney said...

Nice work! It was a pretty gnarly course this year. Keep on crankin!

MG said...

Thanks Andrew. You rode a flawless race, and I certainly wasn't any match for your speed or stamina. Good show old chap!

Cheers,
MG

I am Dwayne Goscinski said...

Great job Matt, and also great job at DK. Its awesome to see you doing so well!! wish I had a chance to race against you more, you are a heck of a lot of fun to race against.

MG said...

Thanks Dwayne.. I appreciate the kind words, and would love the opportunity to ride and race with you more often. That'd be sweet! We always have an awesome time when we race.

Hope to catch up with you soon,
MG