12 Hours of Cranky Monkey
By Darren Biggs
This Past weekend was the 12 hours of racing at Quantico on the Marine Base. There was a large contingent of DCMTB/City Bikes riders intent on riding and having fun.
This race was an example of why people mountain bike race, and especially at the relay events. The team had good energy with people helping out one another, and making sure people were eating and drinking, when their stomachs did not want to. When you have a team atmosphere things like a broken chain, a flat don’t seem as bad if your teamates boost your spirits. The DCMTB/City Bikes team didn’t have the most racers at the event, but they had the biggest presence on the podium.
Expert
1st Darren, Kent, MattyD
The Solar Ring Blingers-Was the name of this team, The team had a tough battle with the Principle Health Fitness team that was only 2 minutes behind for most of the race. What stands out is the consistent performances of the team. The team was lucky to not have any mechanicals, but it was due considering Darren’s bike completely blowing up at Big Bear two weeks prior. The standout performance was Kent pulling a 47 one lap. That gave the team the lead and they never let it go. Matt put in a big effort and road strong, he also was the only one to have to do a 5th lap, and he complained not at all. Darren was the unknown factor, he had many excuses, and he had some legitimate tendon issues, but with the good energy of his teammates Kent, and Matt and some ibuprofen he was able to pull some really good lap times. He was able to defend their lead and build it to 8 minutes by the last lap. Darren’s personal goal was to help his team not hinder it, and he achieved that; but he did not achieve his secondary goal of posting a faster lap then Marc ;-). This was a big race for Kent, in that it was his first 1st placing in expert. For Darren it was his first 1st placing in expert and his first REAL expert relay race.
3rd Tom V,Mike S, Jonathan
(from Tom V)
These guys were riding consistent laps, with Jonathan on the SS doing those steep hills. Tom did win the DCMTB/Citybike lemans start race, with his goal of being in the top 10 in the run, only to be passed by many riders. So Tom says learned there! At one point Mike S must have been putting the hammer down had to have his crank arm come off!. Tom and Jon were happy they were able to pull 0:50 laps. They finished 10minutes out of second place. Tom V. thought the race was physically harder than Big Bear. He is still hurting!
EX2 did a great job, especially for the first time.Our race was kind of uneventful compared to everybody else, except for
Masters
1st Steve, Chris, Marc
(From Mike K)
The Master’s race was the best story from the race. Viers went out first and turned in a solid lap. Chris went out without a chain tool and, guess what? Broke a chain. He was running and Scardaville caught up to him and gave him a tool. He lost about 15 minutes on that lap. He was bummed. Marc went out next and DOUBLE FLATTED *AND* couldn’t get his CO2 to work then borrowed a bad pump. Damn. He was less than happy. They were 35 minutes down. Through the race, they pulled back into first. Chris passed the first place rider, broke a chain, got passed, fixed his chain THEN pulled back into first! STUD! Talk about redemption. These guys pulled from 4th to first and had the race won without sending a rider out before 7pm.
(From Steve)
Chris and Marc summoned some big courage and poise to turn good laps after the gremlins bit them during the first rotation. And then they rode us back into contention after a second gremlin attack. Um, wow. Nice work. I do wonder, though, if the team name (Retread) had anything to do with Marc’s 3 flats. Good rides, good vibes. I’m proud to call myself a “retread”!
One of my favorite racing memories EVER is now that first lap. Matt, Tom, Mike K. and I rode much of it together or just turns apart. The energy was amazing! Camp energy was pretty good too.
Open Duo
3rd Ilana, Mike K
(From Mike)
I pulled 6 laps, all under 1hr which was my own personal victory. I rode 3 doubles and had a really good time. It was a SUPER slippery course as it was amazingly dry and loose. There were jumps and great turns and high-speed stuff and tight stuff with some REALLY steep climbs. I managed to ride everything on every lap with the exception of this one section that no one could ride. Steep, loose, big roots, big rocks… I almost cleaned it twice.
I started with the run which was a bad idea. That and the fact that I hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep in a week made for a tired first two laps. I figured that doubling-up would be good as I’ve never ridden the course. Then Ilana went out for her first lap telling me that she had ‘a mechanical’ and could only do one lap. Ok, no prob. I went back to the City Bikes staging area and tried to eat, drink and rest in the hour that I had to chill. She came back and I went out for two more laps. Ilana pulled the next two laps, I did another double and then Ilana did the last double to finish up a lap ahead of fourth but on the 2nd place lap. The winners only beat us by one lap. That’s pretty rad. We only decided to race duo on Wednesday so it worked out well. Podium in our first Duo attempt. We were both tired and stoked. Next time, we both agreed that we should actually try to strategize to improve our position but laughed it off as we both had a good time.
Solo Women
?Mid-Field Tris
This was Tris’s first race of the season, and she had just moved the day before. She came out to ride, and have a good time. She was in good spirits even after she hut her hand on the trail. Tris pulled 6 or 7 laps and ended the day with a smile on her face which is most important of all.
More Photos
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| 12 Hour Crankey 2007 Monkey |
RFK Crit
by: Darren Biggs
We had a pretty good turnout at the RFK Crit on Sunday. Here is a rundown of the people that were there.
Womens Pro Race
11th Lorena Candrian (in her HPC/List Kit)
Mens Masters
(From Marc) It was a fun race, despite the heat! pace was pretty high in the masters
field (lots of time over 30mph, average almost 27mph- how fast were the
other races?), but the overall effort wasn’t a high average wattage for
us (both chris and I had our power meters and both of us were way below
average threshold power- and at least for me , well below threshold
Heart-rate) it’s just a very spikey series of efforts- off and on, off
and on…
I spent the first half of the race getting used to doing the U-turns-
not a lot of turning on the capital crescent trail…
I made one attempt to bridge to break with a few laps to go. Super Dave
Osbourne made a big pull to bring the field back to me then sat on my
wheel when he caught up. I wanted to at least finish with the pack, so I
didn’t want to risk over-cooking it on the bridge by fullly committing
to the move. but afterwards I sort of wished I had stuck it out rather
than let the pack get me so easily.
Chris played it pretty cool in the race and was in a good position on
the last lap. I was further back at that point as as the speed ramps up
to over 30mph it gets harder to move up. but I actually felt pretty good.
great race, and fun seeing everyone out there.
thanks to Bega for hooking us up with race entries and for all the help
he gives us. I’d also like to give thank Big Shawn at Chevy Chase for
helping me get hooked up with some road pedals late saturday night- I
decided I wanted the extra turning clearance of road pedals for one
thing! It’s real nice to have the CB guys behind us.
9 Chris Clarke (in his NCVC Kit)
30 Marc Gwadz
Cat 4
(from Eric) My race went off at 4pm… I did not handle the heat well. the race didn’t feel fast I was able to move up the field just over heated with about three laps to go. hung on for another pack finish…. I think steve broke the top 20…good times,
26 Steven Viers (in his Pedal Shop Kit)
Field Eric Welp
Cat 5
For the men’s Cat 5 Race it was Mike S. Matt D. and Me Darren B. The race was really short, and we started at 8:45am but could already feel the heat. It was cool having the three of us there, and since the field was small we were able to stick together if we wanted. The race had like 8-10 Capital Hill bike guys and I thought they would have controlled the race more, but they were not organized. I ended in second place in the peleton at one point so I then decided to go out on a solo attempt. I did it cause I thought well at least the capital hill bike guys will have to chase me down. I did a lap and some in change in front of the field, partly because Matt, and Mike were in front after I left and slowed up, making others chase me down. I did get my name announced twice on the speaker system since I was in the lead twice around the start/finish line! After I got caught it was in the last lap , the official tried to encourage me to get back to the field , but I was cooked. I did get to see Matty D get third since I was so far off the back I sat up and watched the sprint.
3 Matt Donahue
22 Mike Scardaville
(close to DFL) Darren Biggs
team meeting
monthly team meeting at temperance hall at 7:30pm - the new jerseys are in, so make sure you come to pick yours up.