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12 hours of Lodi

by Tom Vaughn

It rained steadily right up to the start time of 12 midnight. Mike K, Jonathon and I all declined to pre-ride, since a dry pair of shorts was deemed more valuable than any knowledge we could acquire of the undoubtedly slimy course.

We were the only expert team, but agreed we’d keep motivated by racing for overall against the single-speeders, of which there were many strong teams.  Less than an hour before the start, however, we found another expert team had signed up!

As it turned out, the course was not that bad.  Treacherous in some places, but the climbs and fast tempo sections were all in generally good shape.  We each did two night laps in a row, which worked well for this event.  On my 2-4AM shift, I saw the rain clouds scatter and moon and stars come out.  I knew we would be in for better conditions and a good race.  A strong wind came with the sun and soon the course was mostly dry and tacky.

We all put in solid lap times, but the other expert team was ahead of us from the start, at one point by 37 minutes!  We kept trying, however, and after Mike finished a fast lap minutes before 12 noon, I went out for the last lap.  I didn’t know it at the time, but I passed the other expert rider 5 minutes into my lap.  He actually stopped to let me pass, so he was either spent or did not realize we were going to get in another lap just under the wire.  Either way, his mistake, and I arrived at the start/finish to find DCMTB/City Bikes in 1st place.   A fantastic upset, this victory was especially sweet for me as this was my first expert class race as well.

Thanks to Mike K and Jonathon for being great teammates! Thanks to all our sponsors, especially Whole Foods P Street for the food!

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