more from cali

Tree Houses are fun.

Single Speed Worlds 08, Napa, California

Sunday morning, race day… I found a comfortable place perched next to bacon and eggs with the Colorado Crew. It didn’t take me long to figure out what kinds of trouble I would find myself in. When YaYa told me his plan was to build a tree house, I figured that this was much to interesting to pass up. I already had a bit of an idea of what kinds of fun and adventure these folks were capable off, see Juts blog, re: freds well. Beams, ropes and later a platform were xtracycled up to the tree by Devon and YaYa. After a day of watching the race and eating far too little food, the party rocked in the trees until busted by the cops.

I went to the worlds to spectate and helped YaYa build a tree house.

Although the pictures can’t really show how unreal the dance party in the tree house was, at least you might get a bit of the idea.

SSWC 09 – Durango. Start planning the fun.

California with Friends

Marin Headlands

So I made it to San Fransisco, as well as the Pisgah Works Band from NC and beyond. SSWC - The Single Speed Worlds are here in Napa, California. The party began with a reuniting of the band with Bruce and Justin arriving from the desert, on their two month tour of the west. After no sleep and many hours on the road, they met Robb and I at Annandale State Park for a good ole fashioned group mtb ride. Up and over the sandy rocky trails down into Santa Rosa, to the SyCip Headquarters. By the time we make it into Santa Rosa my knee is blowin up and I am riding with one leg here and there. Beer and tacos and good times.. but the ride back is not going to be fun, for someone like me with all of my complaints re: my knee. (Which, btw, is going to keep me from my frist 100 mile race... bummer dude. well anyway.) Whiny Jut and I manage to find a ride back to the car while Bruce and Robb head back to find a few hematomas along the way:

Here in this last picture is YaYa! who smashed his eye somewhere in the desert of Nevada.
In the middle of the desert is a bike shrine. I don't know if there is much I can say about this, mostly because I haven't been there. All I know is that I wish I had made it there, and I will hopefully make it there one day.


Thanks to Aunt Pam for hooking us all up. We are getting ready to head up to Napa to start the real Worlds party.

Night Train pic less report

how boring.. no pics.. for pics go here, I'm in disguise though.

ok.. here we go.. it all starts at ORAMM (see below).
Basically, after blazing past Ian on kistuma's decent, at the end of ORAMM, He asked me to be his 12 hr duo partner. Of course I was super game and started to talk lots of shit with my soon to be coworkers - Eric Krause and Chris Kqxjfast- Who were going to be our main competitors that we knew. We didn’t really know who else would be competing against us, but we were just out to beat them no mater where we stood in the "field". We got to the race and without even realizing it we were sizing up our small field. Kylie and Alex were going to be serious challengers. Little did we really know how true this was going to be…

The week before, legs of lead all week, never really put in any good efforts, was lazy, actually got depressed and realized it was because of a lack of riding, spun out on Friday for an hourish, ate pizza and watched ROAM from THE COLLECITVE (for the 10th time), passed out and woke up at 6 to ride to Fontana Village, to the NIGHT TRAIN.

Breakfast bagel pre 7 am.. what's open? Dunkin Doughnuts! awesome. One stop shop, gas for the almost 2 hr drive, food, bathroom, we're off! Set up shop.. What a crew! Biowheels and SUS suspension Experts were set up side by side right at the start finish line.. On the freekin’ line, we were pulling kids and dogs off the course all day. or not, or we were dodging them. You didn't need to be going fast through there anyway. One was supposed to DISMOUNT and walk the transition. It would be not very interesting but somewhat interesting, to see the percentage of people who walked through and who rode through. I once, only once, saw someone pick their bike up and walk it back and forth through the transition because they were so scolded?.. not too sure about this one. ANYWAY.

Our plan was for Ian to ride the first lap because he had more XC experience than I (with none)and then, for us to switch off each hour. Correct prediction: 1 hr laps (under 10 mile laps, under 3,000 ft of climbing.. Incorrect prediction: 6 laps each. I thought taking 2 laps at a time might be better considering my tendency towards endurance and the time saved in transitions but Ian didn’t want to do it that way, at all, so that was our plan and that was what we did, until the end when it all changed. Since Ian was going first, it would mean that I should do the last leg and that, well, ... didn't work out so well. I did 5 laps and Ian 7 as he took my last leg (he offered?!) so anyway... here is the race:

A Lemond start, running across the bikes (?!?) and off, up a stupid steep long section of trail... __lots of_ elevation over _a good few miles.. it was hard to warm up near the start because the terrain was so up and down, so it was close to a cold start each time for me, although I tried to ride in circles to stay warm. Either way it was always the hardest part of every lap... this first freekin part, Turkey Shoot? I think is its name. Where people usually go DOWN this trail, we went up. The first part presents you with the opportunity to go straight up or take a switch back. In my first 3 laps I rode up the straight up part, cutting people off on the 2nd and 3rd lap each time. And on the 4th and 5th I rode the other way, slower and ending in a hike-a-bike up the steepest section of the start where.. ugh.. if you don't have energy, you're kinda screwed.

Ian was off.. I was beginning my day of not knowing how much or when to fuel up, hang out, stretch, chat, warm up, mingle, sell Tee Shirts for Pisgah Works, loose sunglasses, find food, find water, find lights, loose lights, charge lights, find sunglasses, loose sunglasses.. want to drink beer, don't drink beer, use porta-john on the hill, talk shit, stand at the transition area waiting waiting waiting.. then I was OFF!

lap 1: At this point, we might have already realized that Eric and Chris were going to kick our collective asses. Either way, Ian came in before Alex (Kylie's partner) and I took off. Hey Park! Park, participating in the 6 hr solo class he was on his second lap and I was on my first. Good times chatting with Park up Turkey Shoot. We actually talked up this climb, that I nailed all of-only on my first lap, with Park, who was soon to be getting a flat tire. I loved the first decent.. actually.. I loved MOST of the rest of the course after that first (hardest) part of the race. You get to the top, quick switch back up and left and then down, down, flat, fast, little up, little down.. on to the CLIMB.. two track where you cross paths with the competition way in front or way in back of you. Decent Gravel Climb. On to switch back steepness for not very long. I was warned by teammate Matt Johnson to “save up” some for this last pitch to the top of the climb. Good Advice Matt. Seriously. It was on this last piece of steep switchback, that I first saw Kylie, and our RACE began. She is a freekin climber.. Kylie- last years, collegiate national champion.. *cough cough* *aahemm* anyway! She is working to catch me on this climb. I see her a switchback or two below me and I start racing. Awesome.. I’ve got to be more than halfway through my lap, and.. AND, the decent (I’m a pretty fast descender) is coming up. Sweet! I take my first run on this killer fast long rocky switchbacky decent.. I never saw Kylie on this lap.

Alex and Kylie’s plan I believe was as follows: Alex #1,2 Kylie #3,4,..and so on.Or maybe A#1, K#2, A#3,4, K#5,6, A#7,8, K#9,10, A#11,12. ?(which would mean more for Alex? huh) It started this way, or someway, but like Ian and I, their plan shifted too. So.. actually I am very confused at the moment as I reenact this in my head, which lap I was with whom.. maybe I can work that out later and edit this post but in the mean time. Don’t worry about it and just pretend it makes sense.

Lap #2 for me, #4 overall, I’m racin’ Alex, who.. if my poor memory serves me correctly he finished in front of Ian? On lap 3, and I never saw him, he finished in front of me.

So Kylie and Ian started the next lap, where Ian passed Kylie. Ian pulls in to the transition, me about to begin my 3rd lap and Ian tells me he just passed Kylie.. she’s right there! So I’m off, on my worst run. Ugh. The initially killer climb: my right knee starts aching, something that started the morning after ORAMM. I try to spin in as low a gear as possible on the climbs. And I ride… and start to wreck all over the place. I am slow and hesitant on the rocky decent and I realize this slowness is making it harder on me so I let off the brakes and the sudden switch of speed screws me and I’m down! Generally unharmed just freekin annoyed at myself to the point of loud cussing, I get back on the bike as quickly as possible. Later I whack my too wide handlebar on a tree... this just shouldn’t be happening.

I kept thinking she was right behind me and pushing myself wasn’t really working. She doesn’t catch me on the climb this time, but somewhere on the final updownupdown before the long finish, I am stopped at the top of a little steep spur, and she passes, I give her props and don’t really even try to catch her as I’m clearly fkd, bonking because I don’t know how to race a 12 hr. Now I do. But anyway.

In between lap 3 and 4. I eat! And take care of myself! Yeah. It helps. I love lap 4. I start lap 4 with Ian telling Kylie that Alex has had a flat and had been riding on it, and he had to give him I his pump. So Kylie is not going to rest this lap, she is going to ride with me. I ride hard but am not stressed about Kylie catching me. And she doesn’t (if my memory serves me correctly). This was where their schedule (1:1 then 2:2) got a little off. Anywho, I felt great and remembered that consuming calories most often equals feeling stronger and less tired. It’s amazing how that whole thing works. Food = energy. Wow.

During this lap Kylie still was making time on me and then Ian, maintained our lead and came in before Alex on the following lap when I took off on my 5th lap. I figured we were up from the whole flat tire thing and I’m cruzin. Jeremy, 2nd-place-12-hr-solo-biowheels-super-fast-dude, rides behind me for a while as I “pace him out”, he eventually passes me and then when we get to the gravel rd part of the longer climb, I pass him and I am a good numbera’ yards in front of him when I realize Kylie has caught him. I hear him giving her props. I look back confirming my suspicion and I start cursing loudly because this meant the race was back ON, and a flat tire wasn’t killing it. She blazes past me and says “you’ll catch me on the decent” and I knew… I just knew, there was no way at that pace with that much hill left I was going to catch her on the decent, especially considering I was already more cautious because of my generally weakened state. And as much as I can descend kinda fast, it doesn’t make up for her stellar climbing.

When I come in, not too far behind Kylie, Ian tells me in so many words: If I want him to do 7 laps I should bring him stuff. He was offering. And I was way freekin ready to accept an offer as such so I did. But. BUT I still couldn’t relax as I ran the whole idea, of me slackin and doing 5, Ian doing 7, by everyone. I should be ready to ride, i.e. not get too comfortable, read: not drink beer.

Another reason it was easy to have Ian do the last lap was because he was running faster laps. My rough memory remembers me with around 1 hr +/- 3 min lap times… Ian around 52-56 min. If we had a chance at winning he would ride it.

Another reason it was very hard to get the motivation to do 6 was that I was getting very cold, wrapped in a towel, ate real food finally, and Chris Ivory was in the house, so I wanted to take a load off my aching knees and throw down finally. Excitingly enough, Ian and Alex came in from this final to last run at the exact same time 8:50ish? 25 min before cut off time and Kylie’s ready to ride and goes. I am not ready to ride, Ian pulls in and asks me what’s up, I hand him food and water and he takes off after Kylie. He never sees her. I wait and wait and eventually Kylie pulls into the finish. We got third. And then Alex of Team Boner (Kylie's team) made sure I knew that we got third when he first saw me after Kylie pulled in... the competition we had was awesome! They deserved 2nd and I was happy we gave them a run for their money. Back and forth all day was killing us! But even after 2 flats they managed to pull it back every time. Super fast kids.

Meanwhile, out on the course, Ian ran out of food, then water, then light. It was pitch black andhe couldn’t see anything. A rider in contention for 2nd in the 4-person class rides by and Ian tries to catch his wheel but is bonking enough that he can’t hang and eventually Tom of team 411 of Knoxville, rolls up and hooks Ian up with his second light. As the story began to unfold, I started to feel pretty bad, but then didn’t really as an Epic, as much as some of us like to throw that word around, is hard to come by and Ian got to have an Epic ride out there and my slackerness was a part of that, and, AND he didn’t make me feel bad about it.

What a hard freekin ride. I have never hurt more after a race. Thanks to Chanley- who I got a nice deep tissue massage from today, Matt Fucsco, CTR rider- who came on my last ‘shop ride’ this evening and told me all about his amazing adventures, and to Kylie, who I enjoyed a few beers with tonight as we talked racing n’ stuff, who I can’t wait to ride more with… So I can chase her up the hills and teach her something about going down on a bike.

-B Rob

The Night Train

I'll be working on the full race report tomorrow, but for now I'll just say that: I'm not sure I've ever felt this rough after a race. I can't really bend my right knee very well (I need to ice it more), strained due to over exertion? maybe? I'm full and tired and ready for a serious night of sleepin' at the Crow's Nest.

Results: Ian and I came in 3rd in the duo class (2 "man" teams).. after a strong effort to beat Kylie and Alex, as we battled ALL DAY for 2nd place with them. It just didn't work, they are both strong and amazing and I was quite happy to be riding so close to them most of the day minus the pain of that closeness.. If only Alex had been prepared! and didn't get two flats we might have had a much different day.

Thanks to all of the Biowheels crew out there riding their asses off and helping me do so at the same time. Thanks to Chris Ivory who came and helped usher me into the after party and thanks espcially to Ian who took the extra lap and made the day not just fun and long, but EPIC in all respects as he sat in the woods, with a dead headlamp, out of water and energy waiting for help or death. I won't forget that I owe ya one.

Time to heal.

Off Road Assault On Mount Mitchel

The Off Road assault on Mount Mitchell.. pictures from Val at offtheroad.smugmug.com

To give a thorough race report, I kinda need to give a very brief history of my riding career with respect to Endurance Events.

During the past few years of teaching middle/high school, I could not seem to find time to ride my bike at all until the summer. Then I would get ultra excited, ride a ton and then one day I knew I had ridden enough to attempt the Off Road Assault on Mount Mitchell. In 2006, I finished in 9 hrs and 50 min. I had the best time ever riding all day with suffering people, I had the hematoma of a lifetime, among other wounds that endured the relentless pounding of heartbreak. And the following year, after getting my ass handed to me by my 9-time-road- masters-national-champ mom following the Tour De France across the alps, I came back and shaved 30 min off my old time. All I did was not really stop much, and actually “race” this ride, and I ended up with a welt that kicked me off the bike for a whole week or two.

Then I quit my teaching job. Then I found lots of mountain biking friends. Mostly ridiculously strong dudes, and a couple of ladies who, week after week, kicked my ass and I had no idea that I was getting as fit as I was. I finished the Double Dare, and PMBAR, and Mohican (100K) last fall and this year.

So… during the weeks leading up to the event, I rode Heartbreak and Kitsuma, time after time, and sessioned the switchbacks with coaches Robb and Matt, figuring out which ones I could climb, which ones I could but shouldn’t bother, and which ones I just really shouldn’t bother. I had visualized how I was going to take it every climb, every switchback. Most importantly and then repeated out loud to many, was that I was going to have a freekin’ Grand Time on Curtis Creek. Because—Why not? I mean really… we are all suffering. We Know It Will END. And how awesome would it be if you could just make Curtis creek great by projecting greatness upon it prior to the race.

So, back to my official “Race Report”: Saturday Night prep. I did NOT attend the Mustache Party.

Dear lord, please DO NOT LOOK AT THESE PICTURES if you are easily upset or offended by people who want to push the envelope. My best friends. Out there, looking amazing, after watching them prep for months for this contest, I ducked out to my dads in Black Mountain/Old Fort to rest and get all of my stuff together for the race. This was the first of many good decisions -- to stay in. I measured out all of my nutrition for the race, filled goodie bags for rest stops 1/5, 2 and 3. Not 4. Station packs included: One waterbottle with ice, and one waterbottle with 2 scoops Heed, 2 Scoops Perpetum (Hammer products), 1 tube, co2, 4 accell gels, 1 sport bean -- at 3 aid stations, plus a clean pair of shorts at the top of Curtis Creek.

I got to the race before 7. Plenty of time to drop my packs, chat with many, and warm up for a quick few. I had decided to warm up only because I knew the climb up 70 was crucial. Getting ahead of the pushers was key. Not to say that I wasn’t a pusher, but if I was to be stopped by a line, I would be near the front of this line. On the way up Old 70, I felt Great! and I pass people the whole way up. A few friends pass including Charles of Mock Orange bikes in Winston-Salem. on rigid? SS and looking strong. I pass Val Naylor, amazing endurance athlete whose previous ORAMM time was the one I had a goal to beat: 8 hrs. Sub 8 was my plan. 1 hr and 30 faster than before. That’s worthy. 1^st vet woman (30-39) was also my goal. I felt strong and fast and awesome up old 70. At the gate, race organizer, Todd Branhan was there, helping people get their bikes over the gate and he tells me I’m the first woman he’s seen, turns out one had passed, but whatevs, I knew many could have passed before he got there, but I knew I was clearly ahead of the game.

Kitsuma!

Yeah! I was up there! I knew exactly what I was going to do on every part of this climb. I knew where I was going to hike and where I was going to bike. As soon as I got to the very start, the people in front of me popped off, as well as I and I ran to the top of the entry to Kitsuma. Which was fine with me, because, although I have been able to hit that switch back after a few tries, I NEVER seem to get it on the first try and it’s so steep it really knocks the wind out of you, so I figured if I didn’t bother trying, I would save up and be fine on the next 5 or so turns. After running to the top of it I hopped back on and made the next five… this is where these great Pictures come in. 2^nd woman, I think I heard at this point and this made me a bit nauseous in a totally overwhelmed nervous kind of way. Thank god I got the care for this out of my head, shortly after. And right about the time I couldn’t ride my bike up Kitsuma any more, my buddy Jut Rut finally catches me, yelling at me for walking as he is being pulled up by the only woman who beat me in this race Karen Masson. I was floored by her, mostly because we killed the decent together and I watched her nail the two left hand switchbacks that I can’t make. the first time I was behind her, the second time I pulled over in order to witness greatness roll by. It was awesome. Thanks to Karen for giving me mad props on my descending abilities. Yes I have them although a switchback here or there f*k me up sometime.

The Pavement. Karen and I chat. I find out that in previous years she completed this race in 6:45 ish. WHAT! no way! I wasn’t supposed to be riding with her. Considering how I felt, I knew I was not only going to be ok, but I was doing much much better than expected, so I might as well have fun and just ride things out like Karen suggested: “just keep a good pace and you’ll be fine!” Good pace, yeah that sounds easy. My rear wheel started this knocking sound that occurred most of the day, but was kind of sporadic which lessened the apparent severity. The next day I repaired 3 completely loose spokes and all is well.

1^ST rest stop. Me with out pack, stop and wave good by to Karen’s back as this is the last time I see her. She didn’t stop. As with all of the rest stops to follow, things here worked out amazingly. One to two to three people helped me out, grabbing and filling bottles, finding my gear bag for me… probably around a min stop or so and back on! The climb to Star Gap wasn’t half as bad as I expected it to be for me, as I had just pushed my bike up it a few days before while out doing trail work with Todd n’ Crew. Jut catches me again here, since I had passed him while he was off in the woods relieving himself. Anyway, Jut and I regroup at Star Gap and nail the decent on our way to the grassy climb/decent. This part of the route was soooo not fun a few weeks ago when Jut and I rode Curtis/Heartbreak. The road just keeps going.. in the race however it was awesome.. a great place to take in food and water and keep the pace up. In and out at rest stop 2, same story.. volunteers jump to my cause as people are reminding me all day that I’m the third lady. I’m so glad no one can tell me how close 4^th is, because that would get to me more than looking forward.

Curtis Creek. Time to put in to affect my big plan for the race: to have fun and pass people all the way up Curtis Creek. Part of this plan also involved the great fresh water spring part way up the road. My plan was to stop at the spring and chill for a second. Meanwhile every dude that passed says half out of breath “you good?” Cheeringly I said, “I’m great, This is Cold Fresh Water!” I’m totally confused at why no one wants to stop, but that’s cool. After a few min of washing and drinking. I hopped back on my bike and passed every single person that had passed me at the spring, plus Mike Kennedy inundated with cramps, who I caught just before stopping at the spring.

Climbing the creek. Not as chatty as a ride as I would have liked it to be. As the strung out field drudgingly made their way up the hill that never ever ever ends, I kept wanting to tell walkers/strugglers near the top that they were near the top, but I didn’t want to lie and a few times it was a good thing I didn’t say anything, because then it would just keep going. A car would pass and I’d wait for it.. and then yep, there it is right above my head on the next switchback which I really hoped wasn’t there. It seems like as many times as I have climbed this, which is probably close to 5, 3 in races, it's really hard to remember where you are on the climb. And then, it flattens out and you know the absolute worst is all behind you. In and out of the saddle all the way up, I don’t think I was ever passed.

Top of Curtis Creek. Biowheels station. I think I definitely had three hands on deck here, including Karo who had been driving around taking pictures all day, like this one of me at the top. I hop off and while bottles are being filled, I swap out my shorts behind a car and am soooo happy about this genius move. The first year I did this, last year I didn’t and really regretted it when I couldn’t sit on the bike for a full couple of weeks with a welt that should have been lanced. Back on the bike, heading out of the rest stop.. I see some familiar faces I don’t expect to see.. Eric Krause, co-owner of Biowheels, who at this point was definitly hurting as I should not have been that close to him in this race. I hear, some one call out “hey princess” and turn to see Dougie Fresh (a enduro de ocho contender). Yeah! Doug! Good to see him out there. But clearly no time for me to chat, I am heading down for a few minutes of recovery.

Climbing back out was definitely not as bad as Curtis Creek. There was lots of chatting with the guys around me, including Doug, who finally catches me close to the top of this climb. Eric Krause passed me closer to the middle of this climb. One mile to the top, a couple of cute older ladies inform us and we keep trudging to the top.

Another quick stop.. thanks again to all the volunteers! Yeah! almost to Heartbreak!

Chill road climb, hike a bike, not so bad. Get to the top and let go. Screaming down Heartbreak a few guys have to hop out of my way, and then the rest have flat tires. (no flats, no flats, no flats please!) At some point, I am actually looking forward to / wishing for uphill on this decent as my body is a bit worked from being pounded all the way down. I don’t know if it was the hardtail aspect or the 80mm fork. I think it was the fork. Maybe my tire pressure? I really need to go tubeless soon. Anywho… down down down.. so excited because I still feel great. I think to myself, “man, I think this race is going to end way sooner than I really want it to.” I’m used to this race being at least 9 hrs long….

Fifth station. In and out. On to Mill Creek climb! I was really excited about this climb too. Again, I knew my excitement is what gave me a big edge. But this climb I had very recent (last wed.) practice killing it up this climb. So that’s what I did.. passed people all the way up, C Ya Eric! sorry to hear that your blood is boiling! Oh man! yes! When I saw the top of that climb, I stood up and killed it and a train of guys hopped on and drafted me to Kitsuma.. come on guys, really? Still in 3rd , I meet the 1^st or 2^nd place woman’s husband -- Rick Pena, of Jacksonville, FL. I learn she was second to Trish last year and he tells me how awesome a climber I have been today, thanks! He takes off up Kitsuma, and I climb it just like I did in the beginning, probably hitting more switchbacks this time around. Then I find Rick and Anne Craig Pena, with a flat tire and sweet hubby Rick was there helpin’ out. Good luck with that ya’ll! Oh snap! I’m suddenly in second place. I think to myself, "damn I hope she catches me, because she deserves second" (which she was eventually awarded anyway) but then I remind myself that flats are just a part of it, I still might get a flat and if not, I’m just as lucky as she was unlucky. It happens. The second top of Kitsuma was defiantly the hardest part of the race. Every last bit of strength is gone and pushing through is all you can do.. ugh. Done. Screaming downhill I get to the down trees where one must dismount. Biowheels jersey in front of me, who is this: Ian Baldwin! yeah! another great riding buddy! Ian is totally shocked to see me. I inform him here “I’m in second place, get the F*k out of my way!” He is very happy to, and as he disappears behind me I hear a few awesome shout outs from him! Yeah… cruzin! Pavement.. What a great finish. The Pavement was a nice time to just savor the best ORAMM I could have ever wished for. Ah! yeah…

7:10:54 I finish and am so happy! I soon figure out that because I registered Vet woman (30-39), because I had no freekin’ clue how well I was going to ride, I was not going to be awarded second place overall.. but no matter, Anne definitely earned it and I am pretty happy with one of the most ridiculous trophies you’ve ever seen. In an effort to reduce, reuse, recycle, Todd made these trophies out of old karate trophies. Sam Koerber’s trophy was as tall as him! Mine comes to my hip, and can currently be viewed in the window at Youngblood’s Bike Shop, where I am spending my days recovering from Sundays ride.
Thanks to Matt Dinsmore, Chris Otahal, Justin Mitchell, Bruce Steinforth, Robb Kranz, Shanna Powell, Ian Baldwin, Matt Johnson, and all the other people who I have been riding with this summer.

Next up: Ian and I are going to ride the Night Train! and hopefully kick ass and have tons of fun doing it. Then the Shenandoah 100.

alrighty folks.

Ok folks.
Here it is:
the official unofficial results of the enduro de ocho
now even though we had the awards ceremony and what not this evening..
bonus points are still to be had, as the party is still continuing and there are a few people left still partying.. those left include... jut rut, pisgah works, and a pisgah princess! hell yeah yall..

(*update, I won the party tonight. Jut threw in the towel and I just updated the list below and those of you that made it to the awards ceremony might notice a few shifts since more bonus points have been givin.)

if you have any issues with the points: Lara Lustig and I would be glad to meet with you over a beer and discuss the elaborate formulas we used in excell to accurately determine the points for the following events (that is assuming there are no blatant human errors which we sure as hell probably had here and there but that has NOTHING to do with the real winner, seriously):

name_______place_____ total points
Jut Rut ________1_____ 211.61
Dunn Beetle ____2_____ 200.42
matt johnson ___3_____ 185.82
alan winston ___4_____ 178.32
Pisgah Works___5 _____147.26
Marshall ______6_____ 134.13
Ivory ________7______ 119.6
Si ___________8______ 118.22
tomato _______9 _____110.56
Sharpie _______10______ 109.54
Gabe ________11_____ 81.42
Dugie Fresh ___12 ____77.77
N8 America ___13 ____77.38
Kuntz ________14_____ 58.66
Broussard _____15_____ 40.12
Beerabi _______16 _____38.62
Crunch _______17 ______25.62

Points were taken on each of the following events: Uphill race up 5000>spencer, downhill-trace ridge to wash creek, at I-9: dirt jumps, Pump Track TT1, serious skinnies, trials, bunny hop, dodge ball, winning the party, XC Race, actual pumping pump track, “The Chopper, baby” and various bonus points to be had here and there. Generally speaking (accept for bonus points), for each event you could get max 17 points (the number of participants), 16, 15 and so on.. max number of points wins the title: Most Bad Ass Mountain Biker in the World (MBAMBW) which as you can see is Jut Rut, the Visionary behind the Enduro De Ocho. You might think it's not fair, that a man win his own race.. but as the MBAMBW says “ throw your own enduro and if I show up and you beat me I won't complain”.. now without any bonus points Justin would still have won fair and square.. and you know why.. because he IS the Most Bad Ass Mountain Biker in the World..

For an individual break down on winners of specific events.. lemme show ya:

Saturday:

• Uphill race up 5000>spencer – Marshall Hance
• downhill-trace ridge to wash creek – Matt Johnson
• at I-9: dirt jumps – Jut Rut
• Pump Track TT1 – Jut Rut
• serious skinnies – Jut Rut
• trials – Dunn beetle
• bunny hop – tie: Matt Johnson, Alan Winston
• dodge ball – JUT RUTTTTTT (never got hit, winning team: mj, AW, JR!!!)
• winning the party – Ivory (if you only knew all the details why he won this fair and square AND received a total of 10 lucrative bonus points for this. )

Sunday:

• XC Race (rice pinicl>n.bndry>greenslick)– Marshal Hance (who hadn’t retrieved his ED8 bike from the night before and had to ride the ole fixie cross bike with flat bars?!)
• Jump at the end of Greenslick Bonus points - Jut Rut
• actual pumping pump track – Dunn Beetle!!!
• “The Chopper, baby” - SI
• Various Bonus Points – most bonus points: still working that one out as mentioned above.
  
  
  
  Matt Johnson finishing the chopper obstacle course.. in style! just after this he pulled the rear wheel off the ground and pulled a front flip! for this he was awarded a deserved 10 bonus points. btw: he ate shit and had some physical therapy immediately performed by the most bad ass mountain biker in the world (almost!), the Dunn Beetle.
  
  
  
  

Lazoom bus.. you might guess who the first person off the bus was that night. This was when the competition for "Winner of the Party" began.



Industry 9.. soon you will see pictures of the
31" bunny hop tie btwn matt johnson and alan winston.

Alan Winston!!! again.. rocks it on the pump track.

Mr. Marshall Hance, who although got second on
the skinny's later went on to clean the whole
100 ft of 3 to 5 in wide skinny rail..

Alan Winston later awarded a first aid kit for most
carnage of the weekend. First Aid from RNR-Rachel , WFA-Matt.

Dougie Fresh's BMW motorcycle with Bike Rack!

Sunday Morning, just after the XC race, on our way to
Papa's and Beer.

"Seriously though?..."

Chris Ivory.. on his way to winning the party.

wow ...

this is the enduro de ocho:

I had a pretty good time this weekend.

Jut Rut and I pulled this thing together in a manner of a few days when it came down to it. A few scouting rides.. a few beers here and there.. the most amazing reggae concert of the century.. and it was on.

Jut: "Alright this is how the derby works"

Look closely at this one.. between Gabe and Sharpie..
there are a pair of eyes and the ever present reflector

Good times.

Pump Track Parade:

(keep your eye on extrmtao following Jut)