A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS

After a looong off season of watching the paint dry the 2014 Race Season had finally kicked off for the team last Sunday.  Months of grueling basement rides watching bad movies, grinding pavement miles on the skinny tires in the wind and rain and of course waiting for what seemed like forever for the trails to dry was finally over....for at least a day.  With long standing Sponsors like Twin Six, Gu Energy Systems, and ESI Grips  along with a big new sponsor Loaded Precision Components, the boys were excited to get up and on their way.

As always the team filed into the parking lot at their set times.  Camp was set up and after a few hand shakes and bird flips to the regulars it was time for a warm up.  With Youngblood being a late scratch, Diesel, Dub9 and A-Train were the core to battle it out in the CAT-1 category.  After a little mix up at the starting gate Dub9 and A-Train didn't get the position they wanted for the pre gun.  

Shi!t happens and they dealt with it once the timer said GO.  Dubs got off to a clean start and kept himself in front out of harms way.  A-Train was derailed 2 mins into the race with a side wall tear that had him running back to the pit for a new rear wheel.  Dub9 kept himself out front for most of the race and aside from being run off the trail trying to make a pass on the final lap he was still right there in the sprint finish for first place.  He was able to pull off a solid third place in a stacked field of strong racers finishing just 2 seconds out of first.  The sprint finish was crowded going into the last turn and positioning was everything.

Back to A-Train, instead of taking a DNF, once he finished his run back to the team tent he swapped on his back up rear wheel and was off on a solo chase to see if he could pick up a spot or two before the finish.  With the time he lost trying to do a trail side repair and also running back for his other wheel he knew he was out of the hunt for the podium so it was all about getting in a good training ride.  He did manage to pick off two guys from his class before the finish which landed him 18th out of 20.  Considering he lost ~15 mins from the ordeal he was happy to just be able to finish.

Diesel was the next rider to fire off.  He had a much better start than A-Train and was on a mission to prove that last year's top 5 finish at this race was no fluke.  Looking strong after lap 1:

But Pontiac Lake has lot of rocks and roots and the stop on his front derailluer was pushed out just to far enough that his chain found it's way out the door and onto the the crankarm playground.  Twice he had to pull off for some trail side repair to get his chain back in order and then put in some monster efforts to gain some ground back on his class.  In the end he was able to finish but ultimately the Gremlins may have cost him a podium spot.  He finished 9th out of 28 but even a medal would not have been able to heal the crankset damage that occurred to his brand new XTR Race crankset (it has less than 200 miles on it)

Fresh in from Oklahoma and back home for good after almost two years down south-ish, Soze was just happy to be able to make it out to hang with the team and ride his bike again on his home dirt...Michigan.  With not having been on the dirt since last November he came to the race with only Oklahoma road bike and runner legs.  He'd only been back in Michigan for two weeks and hadn't even had a chance to get his new wheels and tires dirty.  He entered CAT-2 to keep Block company and that also meant he'd do two laps instead of one.  His goal was to come out, get used to the dirt again and use this as a training race to  meet his second half of the season goals.  His two laps were pretty uneventful as he rolled thru the finish in 13th place but he walked away smiling ear to ear just happy to be back on the home trails and with the team again.  It's great to have him back!

And last in the order of age, height and weight we have our home town hero Block fresh off his Top three overall finish in CAT-3 last season.  Block stepped up to the plate and upgraded himself to CAT-2 this year and as a surprise to us all had a whopping 29 guys in his class.  That marked the biggest class start he every experienced in an XC.  He lined up mid pack knowing he didn't belong in the back but probably didn't belong in the front either.  At least not til he got a race or two under his belt.  Being the first race of the season in a faster class he knew this would be a learning experience for him.  His two lap pace showed he has made some gains in both overall fitness and bike handling skills from last year.  He held his ground well and toughed out a 14th place finish which landed him in the top 50% of his class and that was his goal for Race #1 of the series.  Nice work Big Block!

So even though our CAT-1 guys weren't able to capitalize at Sunday's race, it was good to see Soze and Block make their goals for the day.  This Saturday is Mud, Sweat and Beers and then Sunday is the Fort Custer XC.  It is supposed to rain all week so pending weather and trail conditions check back for updates early next week for adventure weekend #2.

Contest of the race....who's line would you choose?

Keep your head up and tires down and we'll be 10-10 on the side!

SPRING UNSPRUNG

Good morning and welcome again race fans...wait.....what....they haven't done any races yet?  Well what the hell are they waiting for?  They what?  They did?  For crying out loud......

Well folks, it's ALMOST that time of year again where you come hear all excited to see what this circus act is up to.  But like every other year these guys are just about as organized as a train wreck.  Maybe that's what makes them such a must see.  But this year they are more like a circus train...train wreck, if there ever was one.

As you know it's been quite some time since the last blog update.  Mostly due to having to deal with the flash mob/riot/rave that happened when we did our story on Big Block.  It took a while for the boys to find a place to relocate to since the old warehouse was burned to the ground because of that.  They had no idea Block was such a 'thing' with the young crowd.

Since the team had to spend the last month living out of Block's mom's garage since the warehouse burned down they have been forced to eat out pretty much every day.  Mamma Block is a great cook but it appears she doesn't understand the traditional diet of endurance athletes so the team was forced to set up a satellite office at Bagger Daves.

With the team now having proper hygiene and nutrition they were finally able to concentrate on the fast approaching 2014 season.  In the last week the excitement has been building towards a possible crescendo to be unveiled soon.  The local trails have been slow to open, but the late start to the season has been a blessing for the team as some of the Motors need a little fine tuning.  Maybe an advance in the timing as well [Editor's note: Inappropriate "retarded timing" joke replaced].  There have been some changes and upgrades performed in the garage over the winter, both in product and personal, and everyone is excited to test them out......or have them tested out....or go and test out stuff.

Last week was also new jersey day, not to be confused with New Jersey the state, or Diesel's favorite album of all time.

Upon their return to Mamma Block's garage at night the guys were greeted by fresh packages of goodies from TWIN SIX, LOADED PRECISION COMPONENTS, GU ENERGYand ESI GRIPS. (feel free to reread that last sentence out loud and shout the bold capped text.  Our sponsors will be very happy you did). Everything was so shiny and they all now had some clean clothes to ride in.  And with forecasted temps forecasting degrees in the upper 60's to low 70's for the weekend the guys had a spit, shine and shave party in the garage Friday night to be ready for first light.

Early Saturday morning Mamma Block opened the garage door and out they came in search of new beginnings.

So, mark your calendars, as racing season begins in less than 2 weeks.  That means only one thing....more blogs with race recaps!  Well, that's actually two things but they are one on the interwebs.