20140627

2 x 12 DUO MTB

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!
 
All Photos by Sonic Imaging (unless otherwise noted)
 
The next day, the rest of us rolled in, first setting up camp....
 
L to R: Steve, Mark, Matt
....then getting READY to RACE!
 
Photo by Mark Briercheck

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
Photo by Mark Briercheck
 
 
2nd Place: MASTERS Category
Mike Maher & Henry Dimmick
Team Ag3r FESTER
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 :)

20140623

TT or SPRINT?

The 2014 Friday Night Time Trial Season kicked off with the five mile distance.... a race that is more of a long sprint to the finish than it is an Individual Time Trial.

Steve Marlette - 5th Place Overall @ 11:06
2nd Place 50+

Ray Sielski - 29th Place Overall @ 13:11
7th Place 50+


Fort Classic Road Race

Once a Classic, always a Classic?

Story by Mark Briercheck

---------------
The sun will come out....today! Finally!

Looks like summer may no longer be a fluke.

A toasty day in McDonald, PA for the annual Fort Classic. With temps hovering in the 80's and the wind light - it was a perfect day for the annual road race to go off in fine style. 

A decent sized field kicked off the Masters' race for a wild ride around some beautiful Washington County back country roads.

photo by Fred Jordan

On the final lap - a group of 15 or so broke the will of the field and the infamous almost-but-not-quite-a-hill-climb took it's toll on the weary (being me and many others).

Despite my best efforts I saw a lead group ride away as I struggled but never quite caught back on. 


C'est la vie Fort Classic.

Mark Briercheck - Masters' 40+:  13th Place.

 
Photo by Fred Jordan

20140618

Fat Tire Challenge

Ag3r got some visibility today through an "advertisement" for the upcoming Fat Tire Challenge.

"Click" on pic to EXPAND the image.
"Esc" to return to Ag3r.blogspot.com


YOU be the judge if this is GOOD press...

...or BAD press :)

Any guesses WHO this is?!?!?!

20140603

Dashing the Dash

Mike Maher attended the Dash-for-Cash mountain bike race with his new "grasshopper" Bobby Irwin!

Below is the txt string report by Mike!

---------------
Mike: Had to outsprint Bobby for 4th. Experience and treachery beat youth and skill.....one last time......

Henry: NICE :)))))))))))

Henry: ...and it WON'T be the LAST time!

Mike: Pretty sure it was :)

Mike: Caught him with about 1/2 mile to go. Knew I'd get this last chance to beat him. Haha.

Henry: You woulda caught him earlier if it weren't for him SEEING your GLOW coming!

Mike: Haha. He caught me with about a mile and half left.

Henry: Ahhhhhhhh.

Henry: YOU came BACK?

Henry:  ....VERY nice!

Mike: Low slope climb and then flat.

Mike: Only terrain I can still beat the little bastard...!

Yellow Bellys

Kirk Morrison, Mike Maher, HannaH Brewer and Rich Allen left the comfort of their couches and ventured into the wilds of Indiana, Pa to play in the dirt at the Yellow Creek Racing Series.

------------------------------
Kirk Morrison Reports:

Race Name: Yellow Creek Grassroots Racing MTB
Race Location: Yellow Creek State Park, PA
Race Category: Expert, 18 miles (around the lake)
Finish Place: 18th

Web Address to Results:

Race Review (from the organizers website): "Clear, sunny, dry, low 60's to start, low 70's to finish."

Comments: Challenging but fun race. This was my 4th time on this Expert course (around the lake) and I was happy to take 17 minutes off my previous best time (2:20:07 vs 2:37:25 from May 2013). Unfortunately, this faster time still left me in the back of the pack since everyone else seems to be getting faster too !

In the Expert race was joined by Mike (10th place) and Hannah (13th place overall, 1st place woman) while Richy took the win in the Sport class (and gave me his Pie prize .... Thanks Richy !). 

Best regards,
Kirk

------------------------------
While Mike Maher Reports:

Website says no one got lost. I beg to differ.
0.6 of a mile more than Kirk :)
Oh and delightful extra bonus climb. 
Good course. Lots of fun. Great technical section!

Results: