Bone Bender = bad mud. T de T = good mud.

Me and Mitch were looking for a good road trip so when they put the reschedule date of the Bone Bender as the same weekend as the T de T we were set. Greg was in and even offered to drive, all I had to do was show up at Mitch's house at 5am. On the way up there it poured buckets and I was thinking how much I love mud. If you say it enough maybe you will love mud. It slowed us down but didn't stop us from racing. At the Bone Bender it was the bad mud, The kind that turns your race machine into a slow moving tank. The race started off with a Le Mans run, lucky for me they didn't make us run very far. Okay lucky for everyone cause what they didn't tell us is that we would have plenty of it later! Anyway after getting to the bikes I made it up to the front pretty quick going into the single track in maybe second or third. That was probably the luckiest thing I did. I was riding the Bonty XR 1. They didn't give me much traction but they weren't holding any mud either. I guess about half way through the single speed guy passed me and I passed the guy that was leading. He had flatted and not soon after I flatted. I was getting better traction with the flat than when it had air in it so I kept riding it, at the time I thought we were closer to the end but still had probably half of lap left. So I finished up the first lap in pretty decent time. The awesome Bone Bender crew helped me switch wheels and fixed my flat while I was out on the next lap, cool stuff. Here is the tripped out part going into the next lap it wasn't long and I was already lapping people. I think the trail gods were pissed off and decided to lock the trail down. The stuff I was riding on the first lap was now unrideable, the mud stuck to everything. Most of the second lap was a hike a bike and unfortunately most of the racers were still stuck out there in it on there first lap. I still think of how lucky me and a few others were that we made it through our first lap with out any major mud issues. Going into the third lap I was already focused on it being a hike a bike. It was amazing how trashed the trail was and I definitely felt bad for the promoters. The trail was a little better on the third lap and by the fourth lap everything was pretty rideable again. I think by the time I hit the fourth lap I was already thinking about Sundays race and not trying to destroy myself any more than I already had. At least we were riding again. So the race finished up better than it started at least up until it ended. Once it was over the cleaning begun, normally I would throw the bike in the truck and save the cleaning for another day. But with the Tour de Tick race the next day I had to get it cleaned up and hope nothing was to trashed to keep me from racing the next day. So me Mitch and Greg got everything cleaned up loaded up and headed out for some food and a hotel. Applebees was the choice. Bad choice worst pasta we ever had. You know its bad when you get your appetizer 5 minutes after you finish your meal and actually have to convince the waiter you still want it!! We were hungry..

Results from the race. 1st place 6hr solo male, second place overall. Garmin link. Pretty stoked at everybody that did this race, Big thanks to the promoters for still letting us race when they should of cancelled even if it would of been last minute and we all would of been hacked off. And a big thank you to the neutral support guy that helped me change my tire and fixed my flat that was cool.

So before we knew it me Mitch and Greg were lining up at the Tour de Tick race. I always think I am going to go out a little easy and pace myself, that never happens. Not long after the start I barely snuck into the single track in the lead. I had a guy on my wheels and couldn't shake him for nothing. It didn't take me long and I was wondering who he was so I asked. Jason Stiger was the man. He was real close to me at the Council bluff race for a few laps and I already knew he was pretty fast. So I thought it would be better for him to lead and just see how long I could hang on. Jason took over and hammered my legs into the ground pretty good. At times I was so close to dropping off and it took a lot to stay with him in the first hour. After that things settled down a bit and became a really fun ride. We chatted a lot and he kept a good pace for us. Finishing up the fourth lap we had slowed down a little more than I was wanting to and was thinking Mitch could be gaining on us. When we came through I asked Todd how Mitch was doing and he said he was gaining time on us. What I didn't know is that Mitch had a flat going into the first lap and was not a threat to us but was still having a good race. If I would of known this I would not of had a problem with riding Jasons wheel to the end. So when Todd said Mitch was gaining on us the racer mode kicked in. I was hoping Jason would stick on my wheel and we could put some time back into him. Jason put in a super effort for over half of the race and I felt bad when he dropped off. Once I was off the front I pretty much rode as hard as I could just to see what I had left from both days of racing. The legs felt better as the day went on and I kept the nutrition dialed. good stuff. Results. Garmin link. The T de T guys put on a great race on a very fun course, the trail was very rideable even with all of the rain. Sorry we trashed your car Greg but thanks for driving. Perfect muddy weekend of racing.