A-Train was to go off a little after 10am against a stacked field of Lako, Osgood, Cerget, Dub9 and a few others he recognized as fast. But he was feeling fresh and ready to rumble. Start mid pack at his pace and work his way up as the laps go by, that's how he works. After lap 1 of the 4 lap race he was right where he wanted to be with Simon Bailey. To start lap 2 he overtook Simon in the single track and was charging ahead to find Dub9. He caught a glimpse of him on the following 2 track and put the hammer down to try and close the gap before the next single track section. Plus he had seen Osgood on a switchback and knew he was close. But on the two track chase something on his bike started to make a clicking noise and his chain was skipping a bit. By the time he got to the next section of single track Simon and the train he was with caught Aryn. Not 400 meters into the next section A-Train's chain broke and went flying off his bike. He raced to pick it up, got his tools out to fix it and had it back on in minutes. He then went in pursuit mode to catch Simon only to have it happen no more than a half a mile later. With no spare master links left and frankly not enough healthy chain length left to run his 1x9 set up he decided to call it a day. And so his last Tailwind XC race ended with a 3 mile walk with a broken chain in his left hand and a bike in his right. Later he was asked his feelings about the finish, "Well, at least Dub9 didn't beat me because I never finished. Now he's going to have to wait all winter to have another crack at it"
The Diesel was to start next around 1:00pm. He knew he had his work cut out for him as his 6' 3" 29er riding nemesis Karl Emmerich would be there. These two have been battling all season. Today though it wasn't for points as the series had already been decided. Today was for bragging rights. Which some times is more important. Going through the Roller Coaster section on lap #2 of the 3 lap race, Brian was only 15 seconds behind Karl. They played yo yo for a while though as Karl would hammer away on the two track and then Diesel would reel him in once they got back into the trees. On lap #3 the race was really heating up. Karl said afterwards he was getting excited about it coming down to a sprint finish because of how close the two were. But then it happened.....Karl suffered a puncture on his rear wheel. Upon seeing this, the smoke from the pipes went black and Brian went into Turbo Diesel mode. Karl was able to finish the race but Brian had created to much of a gap and he never caught back up. So the Diesel rolled in for his 4th win of the season and once back to the team camp was greeted with a Bell's beer from his favorite fan Abigail. the Diesel was later heard stating, "I'm glad it didn't come down to a sprint. Karl's legs are like 4 feet long."
Starting not to far behind Diesel was Mike "Cannonball" Keysaer. After a summer of nothing but work he was finally able to make it out to his first race as a Motor Clubber....altho he wore his X-Box 360 jersey. Yeah, lots of compliments on that one. It had been 2 years since he last raced and had only been on his bike 4 times this summer. He had been running on and off to help keep the shorts from getting tight but he knows running isn't riding so he'd be suffering. Baby steps though. He just needed to get back out there. So he was to do 2 laps and his only goal was to not come in last. Mission accomplished! "Cheese" as he is also known as, rode a clean race, finished and never crashed. His final quote for the day, "Sure I'll have a beer, only because I have know Aryn for 30 years and can't remember the last time I saw him drinking one."
Last to go off were our the two 4 cylinders on the team, Ashton "Chicken Bone" Pongratz and Zak "Kung Fu" Keysaer. These two go back a ways and have even gone to camp together. Ash is known for being 9 yrs old and schoolin' his dad at basketball in the back yard. Also, last time fishing with his mom he pulled in a 14" small mouth all by himself. Zak, well he is fresh off earning his black belt the weekend before.....so the Motor Club rewrote the 10 year old's contract to add Crowd Control to his list of responsibilities. Yes, I said 10 yrs old.
A-Train was to trail behind Ash and Zak in the 10 and Under race in the event something happened. Altho, everyone in the team tent was more worried about Aryn given his recent sting of bad luck on the trail. Bone and Fu had a rough outing. Ash took a spill early on when he miscalculated a log pile and went down hard to the ground. He walked it off but beat up his elbow really bad which required a good cleaning and 3 bandages from the Bike Patrol. Zak, while slowing down to check on Ashton got rear ended by another kid causing him to get tangled up. Knocked his derailluer out of alignment and also hurt his shifting thumb. Battered, bruised and bandaged the pair kicked on determined to get through the race. However, the Sport wave had lapped them sooner than planned and they had to do a lot of stopping to let the faster riders through. So half way through the course they Bike Patrol redirected them as the traffic was thick. This turned out to be god for them as they got to ride some uninterrupted single track for a bit before makeing the home stretch on the two track. They both had fun though and were already talking about their next race, Addison Oaks.
Now, picture time!
Diesel raced in the Orange MOTOR jersey so no podium shot in the 'podium only' jersey
Upper left is the First Place medal for the day and the massive paper weight one is for his second place overall in the Tailwind USAC series for his class Sport Men 40-44. Not bad for an old guy huh? Congratz to big fella and beer was consumed, yes even by A-Train, to celebrate 'The Year of the Diesel'
One thing Diesel requested to have on the record:
"I race a 26" full suspension all year. It's all in the MOTOR!"
(((Big ups going out to Jon Wlodarczak for his solid second place finish in Expert Men's 30-39. That was crazy and we want some of that Cucumber Juice. Also ups go out to John Osgood and Brad Lako for theor solid 2nd and 3rd place finishes in the overall series fr Expert 30-39. Solid season from both riders!)))
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