12 Hours of Cranky Monkey

June 24- Quantico, VA

The inaugural relay race in this series took place @ the Marine Corp Base. The weather was great, not too hot and there were lots of teams(and solos, too). I teamed up with Todd Bayliss and Sean Peterson to compete in the Sport Trio category. Sean and Todd, like myself, are new to the PedalShop/ODBC team and they had never met before. I new both of these guys were stronger than me based upon my experience racing against them. I thought we had a shot at the podium at the beginning of the day, and my suspicion turned out to be correct. Sean and Todd went out 1, 2 in the relay. In this event each team needed to start their final lap prior to the 11th hour. At the end of Sean's final lap, we were in 3rd place, but only 2 1/2 minutes behind the team in second. On Todd's final ascent up "Puke Hill"(this is on a Marine corp base) he gets a flat. While changing the tube, the team in 4th passes him. fortunately Todd was nearly complete with the fix and was able to chase this guy down. We finished the race in 3rd place, 15 seconds ahead of the team in 4th. WOW, close call! Great Race!! Maybe we'll be back next year. The PedalShop/Old Dominion Brewery team did well on this day. The ladies, Lewis, Kat and Amy, racing Sport trio, finished in second place. and the SS trio of Nick and the bros. Claman finished in 2nd as well. PS/ODBC was well represented with members on at least 4 other teams this day.

W@W Races 2-4

I finally get back to updating this blog I started way back when..... OK. Let's get a wrap on the Wednesday Series, so I'll summarize races 2-4.

Race #2, 6/27/07: Well after flatting on the final lap the week prior I was able to finish the race without changing a tube in the tire. I finished 23rd out of 48 competitors this week. I was also pretty darn close to my target finish time of 60 minutes, crossing the line in 60:39. this is the official time, but I think these guys screwed up the start time, so the calculation is off by a minute or so. It's been to long since this race for me to remember what the computer on my bike gave me as a time. Anyway, not a bad race and almost in the points(needed to get to 20th place).

Race #3, 7/18/07: Jim Casey pinged me in the afternoon to swing by his office to pick up the sponsor supplied beer, ODBC, for the after races festivities. Of course now I have to take care of the beer, find the ice, and get somebody to watch it while I get ready for my race, while the 1st race is finishing up. Problemed solved when I get there and find out Tom just finished building up his new Niner SS, and wasn't racing today. I get warmed up and decide that I'm not taking items to repair a flat today. The stars were going to let me drink early tonight. Races gets started, I'm hammering up the switchbacks on the far backside of the course, when I notice the back end getting a little squirrely. DAMN, another flat!!! I've got to walk back the the car from the far back side of the park, about a mile or more. Another DNF.

Race #4, 7/28/07: The finale of the W@W series. I've now figured out the the rim tape supplied by the manufacturer sucked, hence all the flats. I've finally solved the problem. At the start line, there's a last minute announcement that there is a small re-route of the course because of BEES! With all the dry weather the ground dwelling bees have been a nuisance. This is the second time, and not the last, for a course re-route to avoid the bees. I finish the race today a little better than in Race #2, crossing the line in 21st spot. I tried to go out as hard a possible, which I did, but I blew up a little towards the end of lap #2. I recovered for the 3rd lap, but still could not crack the top 20. Maybe next year I'll garner some points!