The Wheels go round and round....and around...will they ever stop?

The list of events you are about to read were all done on purpose. No accidential pain. No getting lost and doing more miles than we should of. No stunt doubles. This was all self inflicted and meant to be done.

The 6-12 Hours of Addison has come and gone. Tank, U-Dog, myself and two of our Macomb Bike and Fitness friends all partook in the event. Jeff, Tim and I all did the 6 Hour solo event. Dawn and Mike (Macomb Mike) did the 12 Hour solo event.

There's not much to talk about in one of these races. No epic high speed crashes. No sweet passing moves. No fighting off the start for a good position. No sprints to the finish. Everyone racing Saturday was going to be out there for a while so it was all about pacing. The course was 6.8 miles in length and reminded me of Maybury. No huge climbs just a bunch of smaller ones that seem to get bigger as your laps pile on. Roots, rock piles and some good flowing downhills. They did have some good bridge work. One in particular that took you over a long stretch of water.

So let us start with the person who covered the least amount of miles: Me. Weapon of choice, my only bike of course. But she got a few upgrades right before the race. XT shadow rear, Hayes carbon brakes and an new XTR shifter to mate the 1X9.

Along with Jeff I signed up for the 6 hour male solo 30-39. No classifications like Sport, Expert or Elite. We were all grouped together for the day. As it turns out this race attracted the biggest men's 6 hour solo 30-39 year old category to date, 17 riders total. Doesn't sound like alot but we all signed up so we all were missing a marble or two. My strategy was to do 4 loops, pit, do 4 more, pit and then finish it out. Things went well and I was able to stick to my plan. In the end I had only spent a total of 5 minutes off my bike for the entire 6 hours and some odd minutes and was able to rack up 11 loops for a total of 74.8 miles. That was far enough to net me 5th overall out of the 17. For my first endurance race I am more than pleased with that result.

Next up Jeff, who I am debating on re-nicknaming Enduro. His weapon of choice, his classic GT set up as a single speed. He raced the geared class tho thinking he may switch to his fully geared Giant. The Giant never left the bike rack though.

Enduro here lapped. My whole goal was to make sure that didn't happen and you can imagine how upset I was when I had 3 miles to go and I heard, "Mr. Pongratz!" shouted out from behind me. And the sick part was he dropped me on the next hill. But it was good for him and for the team. Jeff had completed 12 laps for a total of 81.6 miles and that was far enough to net him 3rd place. It's possible that Jeff actually took second place but the scoring wasn't that accurate and it was hard to argue so he let it go. The guy in question disputed the results before the award ceremony so we were surprised to hear Jeff get called up at third. He was still happy with what he accomplished for his first shot at endurace racing. And if he would have signed up for thre Single Speed division he would have won.

Next up, Wonder Woman. Her tool of the trade: Her new RM Team Element.

Dawn showed up us boys by entering the 12 Hour Women Solo. Talk about grinding it out. She went around so many times I thought the Earth's rotation was going to change. Dawn sat on her bike for a total of 16 loops....do that math and you'll find the sum to be 108.8 miles! C-R-A-Z-Y! She took first in her class, almost doing double of the girl that finished behind her. So why do I call her Wonder Woman? Well for a couple reasons. One because of what she did Saturday and two because of this video. Watch it to the end and you'll see Dawn and her black cape tearing up the trail. http://highgearracing.com/matt_upload/Video/AddisonXC.wmv

Other honorable mentions is of our friends at Macomb Bike and Fitness, Tim Storm and Mike Belanger:

Tim raced the Men's 6 Hour Solo Single Speed. He racked up 10 loops for a 68.8 Mile tour on his Specialized and that got him 4th overall out of 9 in his class. Heck of a long way to go with only one gear. Mike took his Titus around for the 12 Hour Men's solo 40+. They had him listed as only doing 15 loops but he had recorded 17. The 15 loops were good enough for a 4th place finish but the 17 would have bumped him up to 3rd. I guess next year we need to find a better way to argue our results.

In the end I took no pictures of myself and we all had a good time with what we accomplished out there. Congrats to the riders I mentioned here and also to all the others who took to the trail in the event. I could go on and on about the teams I saw out there, young and old, and also the guy who did 14 loops for the men's solo 6 hours (95.2 miles!) but you'd be here all day reading this. All I can say is this race is worth putting on your calendar for next year.