The John Bryan 6 Hour Race for Relief is the fundraiser to pay for the port-a-johns at the mountain bike trail head at John Bryan State Park in Yellow Springs OH. A good cause we all benefit from when nature calls. And it is one of the most fun events of the year. Add to that Jeff Cyrus and I took home 3rd place last year and it's no wonder I was looking forward to it.
Saturday night I had trouble falling asleep. Mayhap is was the 3 lbs of pasta from Pompillio’s (of Rain Man toothpick scene fame) or the tub of ice cream I washed it down with. Dunno, but as the midnight Sportscenter came on I figured I had better get to sleep. I awoke at 5:15 am, stumbled out to make coffee, glanced out the window into the pre-dawn and wondered why my neighbors left a strobe light on all night. Turns out it was actually lightning. Uh-oh, I have a 6 hour MTB race today… oh well, maybe it won’t rain.
I eat some oatmeal, drink some coffee, handle my morning bidness, and get dressed. Pack the cooler with PB&J sandwich, a recovery drink, and a 24 oz can of Hudy Amber. Grab the 5 gallon water jug and head into the garage to wait on Cyrus to pick me up. Stierwalt was supposed to carpool with us but because of a moment of sweet-cx-barrier-bunny-hopping stupidity he now looks like this:
At about 6:15 I am huddled in my garage while thunder and lightning crash and the rain is pouring down sideways. Good omen for a mountain bike race right? Jeff and Cox get there and we head north toward Yellow Springs. About 30 mins into the drive the rain stops and the roads are dry. Reports from the Rouge Racing Project Shanty Town that J-Roo and D-Train set up are of no rain on course! Sweet.
We roll into the parking lot to see this:
That’s what I’m talking about. Our home for the day, RRP Shanty Town.
96 total racers were participating. RRP had 18 (18.75% of the field!). Including the greater Rogue Family of: QCW (Dobrozi’s, Petrov’s, and Big Air Jer), Sparky, Corey, BKing, the BWR crew (Jimmy Road Rash, TBBE, Gerry, Mama Petrov, Gers, TJ, and Scott), Marty-Mar, Bill, B-Horton Who heard a Who, the Lionhearts (Nickzilla, Kenzie, and Rachel), the Trek Store Cincy team of B-Jet & Matt and the Redzone Haley Duo, we had damn near half the field covered with people to cheer for/heckle.
Bryan Horton came bearing gifts from Team CNC:
so the day started proper.
We milled about, getting dressed, forming team “strategies” and the solo riders were trying to mentally prepare for between 50 and 90 miles of “fun” .
Last year I started for me and Cyrus so this year he got to do 4 laps and me 3. The start was LeMans style, with a pretty long run, uphill.
Huddle looking manly as he skips through the bikes 
Jeff at the start. Notice Darrin running the wrong direction... he was not the only one to "lose" his bike in the confusion 
After that it was back to camp for the teammates to wait for them to exit the woods. About 55 minutes later the leaders come out of the singletrack. Brent, Cameron, James, Joe, Marty all together. There’s one of the Haley’s, and one of the Dobrozi’s. Those kids are like freakin’ Tribbles, must be a million of them. Placke was in there, Evan takes off in the lead of the men’s duo. Darrin and Jeff exit together in a group. Looks like RRP are dominating the front of the duo race. Gary and I take off chasing Evan and the other Dobrozi. I try to hold Gary’s wheel for as long as I can but he is not interested in waiting on me. I let him go knowing I cannot afford to blow up on lap one. In the turns I see Gerry from BW up ahead. I know Joe had a great first lap and she is the leader in the co-ed duo. Slowly I start to reel her in. On the entrance to the second part of singletrack Corey had caught me. We both catch onto Gerry, we pass, and Gerry settles on my wheel. The miles tick by and we are in a smooth groove. In some of the power sections I pull away from Gerry and then catch Dobrozi right at the exit. Jeff takes over and I go try to cool down and get a status update. Looks like I gave up about 4 mins to Lunsford. Corey made up all the ground Jeff gained on Bryan on their laps and Dave and Evan are still in the lead we think.
Jeff at the start. Notice Darrin running the wrong direction... he was not the only one to "lose" his bike in the confusion After that it was back to camp for the teammates to wait for them to exit the woods. About 55 minutes later the leaders come out of the singletrack. Brent, Cameron, James, Joe, Marty all together. There’s one of the Haley’s, and one of the Dobrozi’s. Those kids are like freakin’ Tribbles, must be a million of them. Placke was in there, Evan takes off in the lead of the men’s duo. Darrin and Jeff exit together in a group. Looks like RRP are dominating the front of the duo race. Gary and I take off chasing Evan and the other Dobrozi. I try to hold Gary’s wheel for as long as I can but he is not interested in waiting on me. I let him go knowing I cannot afford to blow up on lap one. In the turns I see Gerry from BW up ahead. I know Joe had a great first lap and she is the leader in the co-ed duo. Slowly I start to reel her in. On the entrance to the second part of singletrack Corey had caught me. We both catch onto Gerry, we pass, and Gerry settles on my wheel. The miles tick by and we are in a smooth groove. In some of the power sections I pull away from Gerry and then catch Dobrozi right at the exit. Jeff takes over and I go try to cool down and get a status update. Looks like I gave up about 4 mins to Lunsford. Corey made up all the ground Jeff gained on Bryan on their laps and Dave and Evan are still in the lead we think.
My next lap is quite uneventful. I pass some people, some people pass me. I am pretty sure I am not racing any of them. I got to ride with Huddle for a while till he decided it was time to drop me.
From the looks of things the pointy end of the male solo race is flying! No huge gaps with time to rest in the pits. The top 4 are separated by about 1 min. James had a great write up about the pointy end of the race here.
As the laps and hours tick be the day becomes a blur. It’s hot. The “hills” on the course all feel like Everest, the recovery time is not enough. But it is a blast. Jeff gets back on his 3rd lap and we are sitting somewhere between 5th and 7th place. Corey and BKing, Darrin and Gary, Dave and Evan are well out in front of us, there is another group we don’t know, and the Dobrozi clan is out there somewhere. I need to turn a lap near to an hour to send Jeff out for a 4th and get us a 7th lap. It is much harder to hammer this lap, I have no power so I try to stay smooth and be more efficient. As the time ticks by I start to worry I will miss the cut off. I come out with about 10 minutes to spare. Mission accomplished.
Turns out Jeff and I beat our time from last year by 2 minutes yet came in 5th this year. That’s what we get for convincing all our fast friends to come race with us! This event gets better every year. No fancy prizes, no uptight rules, no USAC points on the line, it is just good old fun with a great group of people. The pro’s always say the course does not make the race, the racers do. That’s true everywhere. The course, the prizes, the glamour, those things don’t make a great race. The friends old and new, the competition, the feeling you cannot let your teammate down, those things make the race. And the beers afterward, those help too.
A few more pics.
Darrin, before he washed his legs off, and Gary holding some hardware.
Joe (The Best Bike Blog Ever) looking smug and showing of the newest fashion trend: Cycling-Dork Chic while Gerry holds an imaginary beach ball. Of course they were walking to the top step of the podium so they get a pass.
Sweet RRP banner and Matt's frame hanging just in case... he loaned his wheels to Corey for the race.
From the looks of things the pointy end of the male solo race is flying! No huge gaps with time to rest in the pits. The top 4 are separated by about 1 min. James had a great write up about the pointy end of the race here.
As the laps and hours tick be the day becomes a blur. It’s hot. The “hills” on the course all feel like Everest, the recovery time is not enough. But it is a blast. Jeff gets back on his 3rd lap and we are sitting somewhere between 5th and 7th place. Corey and BKing, Darrin and Gary, Dave and Evan are well out in front of us, there is another group we don’t know, and the Dobrozi clan is out there somewhere. I need to turn a lap near to an hour to send Jeff out for a 4th and get us a 7th lap. It is much harder to hammer this lap, I have no power so I try to stay smooth and be more efficient. As the time ticks by I start to worry I will miss the cut off. I come out with about 10 minutes to spare. Mission accomplished.
As the results come in we start to realize the dominance the Cincy area showed with winners in just about every division/category. I am not gonna list them all, go here for the results.
Turns out Jeff and I beat our time from last year by 2 minutes yet came in 5th this year. That’s what we get for convincing all our fast friends to come race with us! This event gets better every year. No fancy prizes, no uptight rules, no USAC points on the line, it is just good old fun with a great group of people. The pro’s always say the course does not make the race, the racers do. That’s true everywhere. The course, the prizes, the glamour, those things don’t make a great race. The friends old and new, the competition, the feeling you cannot let your teammate down, those things make the race. And the beers afterward, those help too.
A few more pics.
Darrin, before he washed his legs off, and Gary holding some hardware.
Joe (The Best Bike Blog Ever) looking smug and showing of the newest fashion trend: Cycling-Dork Chic while Gerry holds an imaginary beach ball. Of course they were walking to the top step of the podium so they get a pass.
Sweet RRP banner and Matt's frame hanging just in case... he loaned his wheels to Corey for the race.
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