Hey! We hear that blogs are in right now. Really hot. The
best. The problem is, they take SO MUCH time to write! Instead of writing a
new blog after every race, we’re going to write one, very abbreviated blog at
the end of each year. So, here it is.
It all started in January when a bunch of us SAID we were going
to ride the Waterloo Grit and Gravel race, but when we woke up that blustery,
snowy, rainy, March morning Scott Walter (Wally!) and Rob (Rob) found themselves
alone at the starting line. After nearly 4 hours in the worst conditions ever,
they both took 2nd place! But more importantly, Scott met Glen.
A week later, the joke was on all of us as we suffered
through THE WORST RIDE EVER at Barry Roubaix. Dave Krenk and Andrew Sics won
some neck hardware and we took first place in the 36-mile team competition. Oh,
wait, Brandon didn’t register as part of our team? Never mind.
April, May and June we rode our bikes. Wally broke a baker’s
dozen body and bike parts in two unfortunate incidences, but he defied doctor’s
orders by riding the trainer the following week. Glen (New Glen!) introduced
us to some cool people who wear little red & white kits and ride little red
& white bikes in Ann Arbor. They took us HOMES and taught us about Nachos
and Jazz.
In July, we infiltrated the Tree Farm relay with 6 teams and
successfully defended our title of Most Unaffected by Bad Weather in the Men’s
Advanced category.
In August we all got mud bats at Ore 2 Shore. A lack of rear
brakes for 2/3 of the race propelled Steve to a 55th place finish
overall. Hey, finally broke in to the top 55!
September is that month that we travel to those other states (Wisconsin and the U.P.)
to race those races that no one knows how to pronounce (Chequamegon and Marji Gesick) and
ignite the world’s largest camp fire. Cheq was Wally’s first big race after
breaking himself and BOY WAS HE SLOW (his words not mine). The heat was on as Glen (one N, not Frey) attempted his SECOND Marji Gesick race – it was 90 degrees, that's just too hot. Next year is his year for that race... and the buckle!
We rode into October like a team on fire BECAUSE IT WAS SO
HOT. Seriously, it’s supposed to be cool in October. We raced in shorts and
t-shirts at Peak2Peak and sweated our CamelBak’s off. Just kidding, we don’t
wear CamelBak’s (that’s not true, one of us does). Anyway, it was a great day. We rode bikes (all of us). We drank beer (most
of us). And we won (Daum).
Iceman, the night cap of the season, didn’t disappoint. It
was freakin’ cold AND it snowed. With a bunch of us in wave 2, it was a JTree pain
train – and we rode that train to 3 podium spots! Jon took 3rd, King
Sheeba took 1st and Steve took 4th. Mr. Krenk (wave 1)
took 2nd place with a sprint finish – missing out on 1st
by less than a second! JTree Dave was at the finish line with food, dog and
good vibes to help us close out the season right.
That's everything! Don’t believe it? Here are some pictures.
