Jason Buffington and I left the Port City @ 3:00 a.m. for a classic "hardman" home-to-car-to-race-to-car-to-home attempt at the 12 Hours WEMS race near La Crosse, Wisconsin, some four hours+ down the road...The plan included a 2:45 a.m. start, a 7:15 a.m. arrival, coffee break from 7:15 a.m. to 7:45 a.m., hardcore racing from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. (sans support crews, etc.), quick victory beers, reserved & modest conversations with defeated rivals, and gracious victory speeches to the throngs of fans from 8:01 p.m. to 9:29 p.m., back in the car by 9:30 p.m. and home to Duluth by 2:00 a.m. for a just under 24 HOUR EFFORT. But alas perhaps the gods were angry with Obama's embracement of socialism so the event was not to be, due to the absurd forces of Zeus including copious rain, thunder, and lighting (combined with the risk of law suits, no doubt)...Even so, I am quite confident in proclaiming with certainty that Jason and I would have tied for First Place as we were loaded, locked, and ready for total "Shock & Awe Victory."....WE ARE CLAIMING VICTORY!!!!! Sometimes great feats of athleticism go unfulfilled, except in the mind's eye...but we would have WON and received kisses from the beautiful podium girls and wonderful prizes!!!!
YES, we did drive all the way down there to the bluff country during the nether hours only to find that it had been cancelled, we then drove over to Levis-Trow and rode those great trails for several hours at first with heavy hearts, but then we forgot about what might have been and instead embraced the day as optimists by definition must do. Jason provided top notch comradeship...I must say that I am impressed with his raw potential...With Tinker aging and Eatough fading, He and Eki are the future of enduro-racing in the Northern latitudes...
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Did you drive all the way there Charlie?
ReplyDeleteI drove all the way there and had camping reserved for two nights. What a bummer! Cancelled because of some rain. I thought this was mt. biking. What's going on???
ReplyDeleteI am at my best in "bad conditions,"but of late I am not able to prove it...Whatz with mud tires? Why bother? They just call it if there is less than perfect trail...the DBD Honor Board is threating a formalized sanction. Mallory is steaming mad, I have not seen him like this since that allowed O2 on Everest..."We are a nation of sissies", sez Sir George
ReplyDeletehow about we organize an "old school" mtb race. No carbon, no clipless pedals, real mud tires and moustaches?
ReplyDeletesomebody bring back the 80's!!!
ari
-Farrow
ReplyDeleteThis is Ben Dvorak, Past Student of yours. I think you would remember. Graduated in 06. Anyway I got myself a nice new mountain bike. Look for some places to ride and people to ride with. To Show me the ropes a lil'. I should stop by the school sometime to see whats up.