The past two weeks has been nothing but good news and good things. Last weekend Brandon and myself made a second trip to North Carolina for the 12 Hours of Tsali. It was a really sweet trip. The trip started on Thursday morning at Cabela's where we packed my car to the roof with camping and racing stuff. We stopped the first night in Douthat State Park, VA where we rode for about 3 hours. There's a lot of nice trail packed into this little park. The next day we finished the trip to Tsali, tucked away in the Great Smokey Mountains of North Carolina. We did a lap on the course and found that lap times would be fairly short and very very fast. Saturday morning: we wake up, set up our pit, make all our food for the race(we both debuted a secret little feeding trick we learned from none other than Mr. Eatough), and warmed up a little. The race started like every other endurance race, with a rediculous LeMans start. I hate LeMans starts, they are rediculous, ubsurd, and downright stupid. They should be done away with.
The race went smoothly indeed. I rode the first 7 hours in second place until Harvey Minton passed me somewhere in the pits starting lap 10. I caught him immedietly on the first fireroad climb and pulled even with him. Having not seen him pass me in the pits or anywhere on the course all day, and by judging how quickely I came up to him on the climb, I figured he was a lap rider. It turns out I had also mis-counted my laps, I thought I was starting lap 11. When the mysterious Indy-Fab rider told me he was starting lap 10 I figured I was still in 2nd with 3rd place still behind me. Harvey obviouslly knew who I was, and that I had been ahead of him all day, so he attacked at the bottom of the first big descent. Being fairly certain that he was a lap rider I watched him ride away from me and maintained my more than comfortable yet quick pace. At the end of the race I found out that Harvey was actually on the lead lap and that I had simply watched him attack me for 2nd place, while I sat and smiled. Oh well, I guess I should learn to count better. I still finished 3rd, made 100 bucks, and came home with some serious hardware(a 3 foot trophy, along with Brandon's 4-poster statue, that we had to smash somewhere among the other stuff that already filled our car).
After awards, around-about 1 am, we decided to pack everything up in hopes of getting a hotel where we could shower and sleep in real beds. We were lucky enough to be in bed by 5 am that morning.
In other news, my bike is expected to arrive on Wednesday. After riding my new Dragon Team hardtail frame for the past month of so, I've decided to go with the XTR version of the same frame. Taylor scored me the last 19" Jamis Dragon Team bike in the Jamis warehouse and it was shipped yesterday. I really pumped up for it. I think it'll be a better bike than the full suspension version. Its lighter (22 lbs), about 500 bills cheaper, and also features two state-of-the-art mechanisms called water bottle mounts, which the Dakar lacked completely.
The race went smoothly indeed. I rode the first 7 hours in second place until Harvey Minton passed me somewhere in the pits starting lap 10. I caught him immedietly on the first fireroad climb and pulled even with him. Having not seen him pass me in the pits or anywhere on the course all day, and by judging how quickely I came up to him on the climb, I figured he was a lap rider. It turns out I had also mis-counted my laps, I thought I was starting lap 11. When the mysterious Indy-Fab rider told me he was starting lap 10 I figured I was still in 2nd with 3rd place still behind me. Harvey obviouslly knew who I was, and that I had been ahead of him all day, so he attacked at the bottom of the first big descent. Being fairly certain that he was a lap rider I watched him ride away from me and maintained my more than comfortable yet quick pace. At the end of the race I found out that Harvey was actually on the lead lap and that I had simply watched him attack me for 2nd place, while I sat and smiled. Oh well, I guess I should learn to count better. I still finished 3rd, made 100 bucks, and came home with some serious hardware(a 3 foot trophy, along with Brandon's 4-poster statue, that we had to smash somewhere among the other stuff that already filled our car).
After awards, around-about 1 am, we decided to pack everything up in hopes of getting a hotel where we could shower and sleep in real beds. We were lucky enough to be in bed by 5 am that morning.
In other news, my bike is expected to arrive on Wednesday. After riding my new Dragon Team hardtail frame for the past month of so, I've decided to go with the XTR version of the same frame. Taylor scored me the last 19" Jamis Dragon Team bike in the Jamis warehouse and it was shipped yesterday. I really pumped up for it. I think it'll be a better bike than the full suspension version. Its lighter (22 lbs), about 500 bills cheaper, and also features two state-of-the-art mechanisms called water bottle mounts, which the Dakar lacked completely.
I'm also readily awaiting the week of August 8-15. I recently discovered that it should be the best week of the year. Here's the timeline: Wednesday August 8, Dave Matthews Band concert, Tweeter Center, Row J ("J" happens to be the 10th letter in the alphabet, meaning 10th row). Thursday August 9, early flight out of Phila. Destination: SnowMass, Co for the NORBA National Finals. Fly back Monday or Tuesday, August 13 or 14. Wednesday August 15, Dave Matthews Band Concert #2, Virginia Beach, VA.
How awesome is that...
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