Four Ag3r Teams entered the Big Bear Lake "2 x 12" (two by twelve) Duo mountain bike race. This race is a two person team, multi-lap race, than can take up to 9 hours to complete.
Here is the parking area for the race, which looks suspiciously like an airport, with our camping location marked by the red dot.
Kirk rolled in Friday afternoon to stake our claim. Squatters Rights!
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| All Photos by Sonic Imaging (unless otherwise noted) |
The next day, the rest of us rolled in, first setting up camp....
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| L to R: Steve, Mark, Matt |
....then getting READY to RACE!
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| Photo by Mark Briercheck |
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| Photo by Mark Briercheck |
Ag3r entered four Teams.....using the Addam's Family as the theme!
Mike Maher & Henry Dimmick
Team Ag3r FESTER
Kirk Morrison & Hannah Brewer
Team Ag3r MORTICIA & COUSIN ITT
Mark Briercheck & Steve Brewer
Team Ag3r LURCH
Bobby Irwin & Matt Olearchick
Team Ag3r THING
....and so, the Race began, in a Mass-Start format, over a mile from our camp location.
First through the turn closest to Camp Ag3r was Bobby...
...then came Mark....
...then came Kirk....
....but where was MIKE???
At this point, essentially all the riders had come through.
All of a sudden, there came the sound of something LARGE crashing through the brush behind us.
We wheeled around just in time to see Mike hammer past us mumbling something about getting a flat...and having to go to the truck to fix it....!
Little did we know at the time, that THIS would be a "sign" of what was to come for (all) of us!
Then, just as quickly as he had appeard, "Mr. TMR"...was gone!
Next to come up lame was Mark, with a front wheel pretzeled so bad it would hardly spin.
Day OVER :(
Then came HannaH....
Well, then came HannaH, riding Steve's bike, while Steve carried HannaH's broken bike!
...a bike that had multiple problems, some of which none of us had ever seen before.
But HannaH's spirits could not be dampened, because SHE had borrowed a spare bike off Rich Allen just in case something like this happened.
SMART GIRL :)
But "how smart" we had to wait to see; Holding our breaths all the while (not really!), until she finished her 2nd lap...
...and "the kick" was UP, and it was GOOD!!!
Meanwhile, back to Team LURCH, despite Mark's day being over, his partner Steve still headed out for a lap of his own....but dropped his chain so many time in the first mile, that he decided to abandon while he was still close enough to camp to WALK out.
Abandoning all hope, Steve switched costumes, out of Ag3r kit, and into his pyro-maniacally evil counterpart, "The Incinerator",
Back to Team FESTER: While Mike started off the race with one flat, Henry ended it with TWO. First a (regular) flat that had to be changed... THEN a second flat for which there were no more repair supplies. From there, the poor bike got RIDDEN on the rim to complete the lap.
"Never Give Up. Never Surrender." - Jason Nesmith (Galaxy Quest)!!!
On Kirk's final lap, his BAD LUCK landed him in the ONLY mud puddle on the entire course.
Good AIM Kirk! ...now go take a shower!
But he would not BUDGE....diligently waiting until his teammate HannaH finished her final lap, so together they could celebrate their tenacious ACHIEVMENT!
Despite ALL our PROBLEMS, we did quite well:
2nd Place: SPORT Category
Bob Irwin & Matt Olearchick
Team Ag3r THING
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| Photo by Mark Briercheck |
2nd Place: MASTERS Category
Mike Maher & Henry Dimmick
Team Ag3r FESTER
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| Photo by Mark Briercheck |
8th Place: EXPERT Coed Category
Kirk Morrison & Hannah Brewer
Team Ag3r MORTICIA & COUSIN ITT
13th Place/DNF: SPORT Category
Mark Briercheck & Steve Brewer
Team Ag3r LURCH
After the awards, the PARTY started....which included a band, some food and a bunch of interesting vehicles!
Meanwhile, back at camp, Mr. Fire & Bobby held down the Fort....
...until we all gathered around to finish off the night...
...with SMORES :)
A long day, a hard race, with good Results earned us a good night's sleep under a full moon!
Good Night All :)
