Man did it feel good to be in the race zone again, that frame of mind, that focus, that determination and that feeling of pain that lets you know you are pushing your body to it's limits. Hair on the back of my neck is standing up from typing this.
It was a beautiful day for racing. Mostly sunny, not to humid at all and supposidly no rain. The course was in tip top shape and was set up like no other course we had raced at Stony before. Course was flagged on Thursday but why pre-ride , we have 12 hours to figure it out. We had all ridden/raced Stony a bunch of times so nothing would be new, just the sequence of two track and single track would be a little different. It great to see the team and howdy do's and hugs went around all morning during pre race staging. Jeff, Heather, Brian, Mike, Jerry, myself and guest rider Lillian Ruz from Team Treefort made up the squad for the day. Our star studded pit crew consisted of Kathy and Bloomer the Cat. Well Kathy did all the leg work but Bloomer kept busy taking inventory by sticking his head and sometimes entire body into everyone's bags.
7:55 came quick tho and Jerry, Heather and I all had to get to the line for the relay start at 8:00. Jeff was to start the solo a couple minutes after 8. I was at the line thinking to myself how long it had been since I was at the starting line....darn near a year since my last race. Lee from Team Sandbag looks over at me and says with a smile, "You sure you know what your doing? This isn't the freeride park." All I could do was laugh. This is why I like endurance racing, the starting lines are so stress free because we all know the race won't be decided in the first lap or the second, third, fourth....fifth......sixth.....well until later in the race when everyone starts to realize how much endurance they do or don't have.
Going into actual race detail would make this a very, very long blog so I'll just post results. What will say is that they cut the race short by 2 hours because of some huge storm that was coming to the park...however, it never rained so that kind of sucked.
Jeff - 1st place 12 Hour solo men's. He was 4 minutes ahead of his closest competitor. 13 laps in 10:59:45 for an estimated 136.5 miles ---> all by himself!!! And I'd like to point out he raced in the geared class on his single speed and beat them all. He even schooled the single speed class and the sub 30 year old 12 Hour geared racers.
Heather and Lillian took 3rd racing against the boys in the 2 person Advanced 12 hour class. They ticked the counter 11 times in 10:36:35 for close to 115.5 miles. Not bad for a couple of Chica's. : )
Brian and Jerry took 3rd in Men's 2 person 12 Hour Sport knocking down 11 laps in 11:15:54.
Mike and I took the win in Men's 2 person 12 Hour Sport throwing down 12 laps in 10:31:59
Now for some accolades:
KATHY!!! - We couldn't have done this without you. From the coffee run for Jeff, the sacrificing of chicken for the team and the general info you gave on everyone thru the laps, you were a huge help. I know your info on Mike made a huge difference in the outcome of the day for him and I. Without your input Mike and I may have not made it thru the day. After talking to you we were able to adjust our strategy and move forward. Having a level headed person not racing in the staging area is very valuable. And the chicken...sorry Scott, your burgers are great and all but Kathy just got promoted to the team's head chef. You now work for her.
Jeff - You are not human....and I am not the only one who thinks this. I've heard this from others outside our team. Being the team's PR rep I hear a lot and you are always a popular name when people start talking about endurance racing. When yo go big remember who gave you that Snickers bar.
Heather - I expect nothing less out of you than what you gave Saturday. Sounds like tough love and it is. I could sit here and write all kinds of good things about you but you'd just knock me over, kick me and tell me I should be on my bike training instead of writing these silly team updates.
Lillian - Was great to have you out with us for the day. Of course we are all going to razz you and try and get you to race for us but it was all in fun. I loved the idea of collaborating with another team to get us more press. I hope Bloomer enjoyed himself and props to you for holding off Brain's chase on that one loop. He's not an easy guy to shake. Now you can go back and tell your team and friends how much fun you had and that not only can we ride our bikes but we also look good doing it. : )
Sensei Brian - I've said it many times before and I hate repeating myself but, well, you are Brian McCabe. You show up, throw down some solid laps and drink a beer at the end of the day like it was another day in the office. You come in, do your job and hammer out results. You joke around when it's time to have fun but out on the course you are all business. Great job out there.
Mike - I can honestly say that I am proud of how you kept it together out there. You did a great job going the distance and to me this is the best race you have ever ridden. I know your salt intake changes helped a lot but I man you were solid out there. You were actually getting stronger later in the day when I thought you would start to wear out a bit. I fed off your energy big time and it helped motivate me to match your laps and keep our team going. Looking forward to us doing more of these in the future.
J e r r y - I spaced that out on purpose. Bro, I think all the above mentioned would agree that you were the team MVP for the day. As captain you led by example. You never gave up and you pushed yourself past your limits for the team. I was very impressed when I came in after my last lap and found out you went out for another. Over all these years you have done a lot for the team, more than any of us. But that last lap you did, to me, was probably one of the biggest things yet.
I know I am sounding a little sappier than normal and maybe some of you were expecting my normal sarcastic twisted humor. But when Saturday was all done and over I think everyone on the team became a different person. All of us had reached a level of ourselves we had never been to before. When we were all sippin' a brew after I could see it in every one's faces.....we were all one step closer to becoming as bad ass as Dawn "U-Dog" Nicholas.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
It finally stopped raining
July is almost over and we have less than 48 hours until the 12 Hours of Stony Creek. This will be the first time everyone on the team will attempt a 12 Hour race so this will be fun for sure. Jeff is still going solo and he is really the only one on the team capable of doing so. Brian and Jerry are in for a 2 man team, Mike and I plan to give it a whirl as a 2 man team and Heather decided to team up with Lillian from Treefort Bikes for a 12 hour 2 person team instead of doing a 6 hour solo. Heather and I could finish a 6 hour solo no problem but the 12 hour 2 person realy sounds like a better way to have fun with the team. I know I am excited about it.
It's been a wet month which is very unusual for Michigan ths time of year. A lot of rolling storms that seem to only come during race times and after work when everyone wants to ride. I just got caught in a storm Tuesday that hit 2 hours earlier than they had forecasted. Nothing gets the legs spinning down the trails like being caught in the middle of a bad thunderstorm when lightening is all around you and there is no shelter areas for miles. I just picked up the pace and kept going figuring I'd be harder to hit as a moving target.
It has been a quite month for the team overall. Heather and Jeff are the only ones who seem to be racing this year and even their adventures have been pretty well around the norm.....it's funny calling top 3 podium finishes the norm. Hopefully Stony will light a fire under the team camp. We'll have 6 of our riders out there but that's still only half the actual mountain bike squad suiting up for the weekend.
I have been piling the miles on more. I have over 1,000 road/trainer miles and over 100 trail miles since I started back on the bikes in April. That's about half my quarterly average but I'll take it. Heck I just had my first trail ride of the year two weeks ago and I just took 5 days off for a short vacation to the cottage so 100 miles on the trail is pretty good considering.
So check back next week to read up on all of this weekend's racing antics. It's been a while since the team has showed in such numbers so there's bound to be some forms of pandemonium and chaos....hell we'll be out there for 12+ hours....anything goes when we are in pit row by Team Sandbag.
Aryn 'Pivotless' Pongratz
It's been a wet month which is very unusual for Michigan ths time of year. A lot of rolling storms that seem to only come during race times and after work when everyone wants to ride. I just got caught in a storm Tuesday that hit 2 hours earlier than they had forecasted. Nothing gets the legs spinning down the trails like being caught in the middle of a bad thunderstorm when lightening is all around you and there is no shelter areas for miles. I just picked up the pace and kept going figuring I'd be harder to hit as a moving target.
It has been a quite month for the team overall. Heather and Jeff are the only ones who seem to be racing this year and even their adventures have been pretty well around the norm.....it's funny calling top 3 podium finishes the norm. Hopefully Stony will light a fire under the team camp. We'll have 6 of our riders out there but that's still only half the actual mountain bike squad suiting up for the weekend.
I have been piling the miles on more. I have over 1,000 road/trainer miles and over 100 trail miles since I started back on the bikes in April. That's about half my quarterly average but I'll take it. Heck I just had my first trail ride of the year two weeks ago and I just took 5 days off for a short vacation to the cottage so 100 miles on the trail is pretty good considering.
So check back next week to read up on all of this weekend's racing antics. It's been a while since the team has showed in such numbers so there's bound to be some forms of pandemonium and chaos....hell we'll be out there for 12+ hours....anything goes when we are in pit row by Team Sandbag.
Aryn 'Pivotless' Pongratz
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Can you believe it is July already???
Man, where have I been? We are months into the 2009 race season and I have done a horrible job updating everyone on the team happenings. So let me give a recap of the last two months here:
Jeff Socia has basically gone mad. Last year he finally found his niche for racing and it happens to be ultra endurance events. So far this year he has completed in two 100 mile mountain bike races as well as the 60 Mile Stony Marathon. His first race was a learning experience, the Mohican 100, and in my eyes he still finished pretty well, 40th out of over 125 racers. He took his knowledge from that race and went into the Lumberjack 100 with more confidence and a fresh set of Stans Olympic ZTR's with Crow tires......big upgrade from his Mavic 819's. He started off very well, in the top 15, before an unfortunate mechanical that caused him to pull out of the race after the first 25 miles. Not much you can do when the crown on your fork snaps. He rebounded back for the Stony Marathon but came to the starting line with a sinus infection....we all know how something like this is bad for hydration. He still managed a podium finish with a 2nd place but he was well off his expected pace and would have challenged for the win if he was healthy. He has a few more of these ultras planned so I will do my best to keep you updated on him.
Heather Patterson has been tearing into the season like we all expected her to. What's crazy tho is that after 5 races she is sitting atop of the Women's Elite standing with a second, third, first and fourth place finishes. I do not have much info from her on how she has been feeling this year. I know she decided to concentrate more on bike racing this year and stray away from Triatholans because it was too hard for her to find time for the pool. What I will say is that she is one Tuff Chic and I'm glad she is on my team because it makes me look bad when girls from another team are faster than me. Yeah I said it, Heather is faster than me. So now I have someone to chase.....or draft, whatever way you want to look at it.
What else is new you might ask, Carolyn Galloway, that's what. Gerry saw an unsponsored rider at the starting line in Expert/Elite Women's and scouted her that day. Heck of a good chance that she is faster than me too.....this is not good for my image, however, it's good for the team. Carolyn sits second in the overall standings right behind Heather and let me tell you how cool it is to see that.....it's cool. I hope to make it out to meet her soon and get her on the site so we can show her off a bit and make other teams jealous. Boy, imagine the rankings if Dawn hadn't decided to take a year off......good chance she'd kick my butt in a race as well right now. Man do I have some work to do for next year.
Speaking of kicking my butt, Mike and I have decided to enter a two man team in the 12 Hours of Stony. Gerry and Brian will be manning a two person team as well. Rumor has it Heather will be showing up for the 6 Hour solo and Jeff will be there for the 12 Hour Solo if his plans to race out of town fall through. He's trying to get into the Wilderness 101 that same weekend.
So that wraps up our late night edition of this Team Signoutfitters.com broadcast. Still plenty of warm weather and races to come so stay tuned and I will do my best to keep you updated. Keep your bike rubber side down and keep your head off the ground because Aryn is back in the saddle and 650 miles into Base One training for the 2010 season. That's right, I'm coming for you!
Jeff Socia has basically gone mad. Last year he finally found his niche for racing and it happens to be ultra endurance events. So far this year he has completed in two 100 mile mountain bike races as well as the 60 Mile Stony Marathon. His first race was a learning experience, the Mohican 100, and in my eyes he still finished pretty well, 40th out of over 125 racers. He took his knowledge from that race and went into the Lumberjack 100 with more confidence and a fresh set of Stans Olympic ZTR's with Crow tires......big upgrade from his Mavic 819's. He started off very well, in the top 15, before an unfortunate mechanical that caused him to pull out of the race after the first 25 miles. Not much you can do when the crown on your fork snaps. He rebounded back for the Stony Marathon but came to the starting line with a sinus infection....we all know how something like this is bad for hydration. He still managed a podium finish with a 2nd place but he was well off his expected pace and would have challenged for the win if he was healthy. He has a few more of these ultras planned so I will do my best to keep you updated on him.
Heather Patterson has been tearing into the season like we all expected her to. What's crazy tho is that after 5 races she is sitting atop of the Women's Elite standing with a second, third, first and fourth place finishes. I do not have much info from her on how she has been feeling this year. I know she decided to concentrate more on bike racing this year and stray away from Triatholans because it was too hard for her to find time for the pool. What I will say is that she is one Tuff Chic and I'm glad she is on my team because it makes me look bad when girls from another team are faster than me. Yeah I said it, Heather is faster than me. So now I have someone to chase.....or draft, whatever way you want to look at it.
What else is new you might ask, Carolyn Galloway, that's what. Gerry saw an unsponsored rider at the starting line in Expert/Elite Women's and scouted her that day. Heck of a good chance that she is faster than me too.....this is not good for my image, however, it's good for the team. Carolyn sits second in the overall standings right behind Heather and let me tell you how cool it is to see that.....it's cool. I hope to make it out to meet her soon and get her on the site so we can show her off a bit and make other teams jealous. Boy, imagine the rankings if Dawn hadn't decided to take a year off......good chance she'd kick my butt in a race as well right now. Man do I have some work to do for next year.
Speaking of kicking my butt, Mike and I have decided to enter a two man team in the 12 Hours of Stony. Gerry and Brian will be manning a two person team as well. Rumor has it Heather will be showing up for the 6 Hour solo and Jeff will be there for the 12 Hour Solo if his plans to race out of town fall through. He's trying to get into the Wilderness 101 that same weekend.
So that wraps up our late night edition of this Team Signoutfitters.com broadcast. Still plenty of warm weather and races to come so stay tuned and I will do my best to keep you updated. Keep your bike rubber side down and keep your head off the ground because Aryn is back in the saddle and 650 miles into Base One training for the 2010 season. That's right, I'm coming for you!
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