Has it been that long? I guess I have forgotten my blog and left no time for reflection and other non-sensical things....
Burning at The Bluff turned out to be a great weekend of cycling and beer drinking. I performed much better at the beer drinking than I did the cycling. With the help of the most interesting man in the world and a few co-harts from Momentum we were able to successfully hammer back many a double X.
With the Most Interesting Man keeping an eye on things, Busken took the Bluff as a 12 hour soloist. Some are just here for the pain and the beer is extra. Busken is one of those types. Weinkein, Sarantakis, and myself rode as Team Natural Mystics for the second year running. Seeing Team Natural Mystics was not here for all the pain and mostly here for the beer things could not have gone better.
Taco took the first turn out of the gate. The start/finish area was a zoo. Riders where all packed in and ready to go. A chill was in the air. Reports of course conditions confilcted from perfect to unridable. Tensions raised, the riders where chomping at the bit to get out. Upon asking Stitz what place he was shooting for, he flashed me the number one....always playing to win.
I went out for my first lap, #2 of the team, and did not fail to duplicated last years feat. Mechanicals basically put us out of the running. Last year it was 2 flats and this year it was the totally massacre of my rear der. Just two weeks after gearing the rig for the big race all was lost on mile 8. I found myself having to walk the final 5 miles. I could only take pride in the fact that I finished the lap in under 2 hours. After that, I turned the RIG back into a single speed and ended up with my fastest lap ever at Coucil Bluff. Three laps this year, one in the dark. Our team moved from last into seventh, I believe. Another well put on race and great course.
Here is the 12 hour solo winner, Mitch "The Masher" Johnson
A few more pics
