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
Thursday, July 30, 2009
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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