After setting up the tent they thawed out by the bon fire for a few and then had their last solid foods before the race. As the race drew near they met up with Trail's Edge rider Steve Vigneau and he loaned Brian some shoe covers and Aryn a skull cap. Much needed in this weather. After getting suited up they did some warming up on the bikes with Steve and went to check out the starting hill and the last half mile or so of the race to see how it would unfold. The course was about 11 miles long, so they were told. It was to have a mix of technical single track, rocks, roots, log piles, bridges, un-broken-in fields and plenty of short rollers.
It is unusual to see Brian and Aryn racing this late in the season. However, a good friend of The Motor Club sent an invite and since he was putting the race on The Club had to oblige. After all Jon Dub 9 came down state to race with The Motor Club in the Tree Farm Relay back in July. Not only is he a fellow Twin 6 rider, he also helped The Motor Club pick up that second place in Men's Advanced. He wasn't racing at all today tho because he was busy being the Big Man on Campus. He spent all week marking the course, rerouting, putting up tape, pin flags and blowing the trail clear for race day. And he still made time to stop by The Club tent to chat it up....
\The Diesel came with a goal of cracking into the top 50% of the Men's A race which consisted of the fastest group of racers. He put the hammer down and picked up a Top 10 finish in Men's A with a time of 58:13. He finished 9th out of 22 registers racers. He approved of the course and definitely wants tocome back next year. And if The Diesel approves, it's a solid trail with good technical single track. Said The Diesel, "I really liked how the roots were snaked in the direction of the trail rather than across it side to side. Made riding them more of a challenge. You don't see that often."
A-Train's goal for the day was to crack the top five, even though only the top three got hardware. He left it all out there and managed to bring home the win in the Men's A Division. He paced it out with a time of 51:13, finishing 33 seconds ahead of second place. He found the single track to be fun and challenging but said in a later interview, "I normally take the open field sections to spin in big gears, recover and attack but that back field was so fresh I couldn't wait to be back in the single track to regain some rhythm."
After the race it was back to the multiple layers of clothes to stay warm and chat with the locals some more. The bon fire was a great addition as we spent most of our off time there hanging out and talking to everyone about thier races and the cool raffle prizes. The Diesel actually won a new pump while the A-Train took home some new Oury grips.
In the end The Motor Club had a great time and rode away with some great results. Got a chance to meet some new people and ran into a couple people we haven't seen in a while. Looking forward to returning next year. Thanks to Jon Dub 9 and all the other MMBA Mid State Chapter Members for making this race happen.
Look for A-Train to give a full race report including trail detail in the coming days @ http://pongorantz.blogspot.com/
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