Saturday July 24, 2010:
Team Tree Farm Relay
Jeff, Wendy, John and Jimmie lined up in the in the Advanced Co- Ed Class for an 80 mile relay. The day started at 6:00 am with the drive out to the Tree Farm in a light sprinkle (after the previous night’s monsoons the sprinkle was a welcome change).
It rained a little bit prior to the race start at 9:00vam. Jeff went out first for Mom and Pop completing his two laps back to back, leaving us sitting in sixth place at 1 hour and 53 minutes. The course was slick from the rain leaving the bridges treacherous.
Next up Wendy took her turn on the course. All I can say is, boy did she rock it. She completed her first lap in 47 minutes and fell a few minutes behind with a second lap time of 50 minutes. Keep in mind that she pulled theses times this in a torrential downpour, riding a single speed on a course that she had never ridden. Way to go! When she came in for the handoff we could barely recognize her because of all the mud covering her. Wendy’s times moved us up to fifth place.
John took the handoff from Wendy and started making up even more time on the course. John is really tearing it up at this point in the season as he put another beat down on Jeff finishing his two laps, on what he referred to as peanut butter, in 52 and 57 minutes respectively. John’s times left us still sitting in fifth place but had shaved enough time off the leaders to put us into striking distance for a podium spot.
Next up was Jimmie, he anchored the team with a two of the fastest lap times of the day at 43 minutes and some change for each lap. Talk about consistent! Both of those times came after racing the Maillot Jaune road race in Fenton, MI earlier in the day (more on that below). Jimmies laps moved us into third place and on to the podium by 39 seconds.
We’d like to thank Brad at the Original Gravity Brewing Company (www.ogbrewing.com) the supplied for the team. We shared the keg with many of the racers and they all agreed that it was one of the finest micro brews they have tasted in a long time.
We also have to thank Tom and Vicki of the Zilke Vegtable Farm (www.zilkevegtablefarm.com) for the great support and vegetables that went into the salsa that we had at our compound.
Next up is a 5k trail running race in Dexter, MI for Christine and a possibly the 8 Hours of Bloomer in Rochester Hills for our cyclists. Both races are on July 31st.
Maillot Jaune
Jimmie and Melissa ventured out to Fenton, MI for the Maillot Jaune road race before heading to the Tree Farm Relay. When he showed up at the Tree Farm, Jimmie shared that he finished a solid 5th and on the podium at the Maillot Jaune and that Melissa finished 3rd in her class. The course was slick from all the rain and as with road racing in the rain it caused a pretty good crash in Jimmie’s group, taking out 7 or 8 riders.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Christine entered her first running race and did not disappoint finishing 7th out of 25. After this race it’s apparent that she has been bitten by the trail running bug, when we got home she began looking for her next race and did not find just one but several to compete in before summer ends.
I must give her two thumbs up for her training efforts leading up to this race and for her performance during the race!
Saturday, June 5, 2010
MMBA Northern Chapter HCP Summer Solstice Ride
This is not a “race” or a “ride” but an adventure and this year Todd and Wendy “weathered” the adventure completing the IMBA Epic 50 mile ride, on single speeds. Todd said that the weather was bad, rain and cool temperatures eventually gave way to sunnier skies which aided them in completing the days ride. They took a couple of growlers from the OG up to share and spread the word of Brad’s fantastic brews.
