24 Hours of Afton Recap

Sarah, Melissa, Kraigness and I met Scott out at Afton around noon on Friday to set up our pit area. It had rained all night and was still raining at noon when we met up. Bill and Susie were planning on arriving by 8pm. We set up the pit area and preped our bikes for the wet conditions. It stopped raining around 3:00 or so and was nice the rest of the weekend although it never fully dried up. The course was longer with more climbing this year. During registration Kraig and I were informed that they made a "error" on the registration form and there was not going to be a SS class. Instead they put us in the Vet class. Keep in mind we all had our single speed bikes and were at Afton. Also keep in mind I had emailed them earlier to confirm if the SS class was individual or team and they responded saying team! Bill, Susie and Elliot (Dirt Rag star), ended up arriving at 5:00pm in time to see me run. The le mans start was suppose to be a 50 yard run instead this year we had to run up the ski hill around a bush and back down then 50 yards to our bikes. We each did 5 laps except Bill did one extra night lap for 6. We had a great time with a bunch of great people and finished in 10th place in the Vet class with 21 laps in 23.5 hours. I would really like to enter a true 4 person SS team class with this group and see how we could do. Bill and Susie, what are you doing in Feburary??

I read about Jeff Kerkove's misfortune and am not sure what to say at this point. I think my actions regarding which races I enter will speak for me.

My next race will be the Sept. 17 WEMS race in Merrill, Wi. Its too bad I have to choose between The Chequamegon 40 and the WEMS race.

Team New-Mart update #2

Scott Cave wussed out on the team (decided he didnt want to do the SS thing and is going to ride solo) so we welcome Bill Schneider to our team. Hes a bad ass SSer from Green Bay. Hopefully this is the last revision to our team roster and we can get ready to have a good time.

Was at Hollywood's shop today having some work done on my bikes. Hes crazy busy, which is good I guess. Hes getting ready for the Single Speed World Championships. Hes a past SS World Champ and plans on bringing it back to Minneapolis. Good Luck Hollywood!

The plan is to ride either Lebanon Hills tomorrow or maybe sneak over and preride Afton.

Team New-Mart ready for Afton

Team New-Mart is set for the 24 Hours of Afton. We are entering the 4 person Single Speed class. The team includes myself, Kraigness, Scott Cave, and Susie McGinnity. This will be Scotts first race this year as he comes back after an injury. Also, this race is the week after the Single Speed World Championships which Susie is racing in, so we may have a World Champion on our team!

The week after Afton is the 24 hour race in Iowa. hmm...

Another lap... 

12 Hours of GEARS Recap.

Its unfortunate the 12 hours of GEARS was a week after 24-9, actually not even a full week. My plan was to do 1 lap, get the points, and help Kraig the rest of the day. The course this year was basicaly the same as last year except in reverse direction. Scott won the race last year with something like 34 laps and this year the course seemed faster in this direction. As it ended up, Kraig and I were the only entrants in the SS class. Since we are batteling for the series title, I decided to go as long as I could and see what happened. I ended up riding 7 or 8 hours and doing 14 laps before I couldnt go anymore. When Kraig saw that I had stopped, he did a couple more laps and joined me. Congratulations to Kraigness on his first WEMS win. With 2 races left in the series, Kraig leads me by 8 points. The next race on Sept. 17 is on the same day as the Chequamegon 40. After crunching the numbers, we have decided to do the WEMS race that weekend and skip the 40.

My next race appears to be the 24 Hours of Afton. I will not be going to Whistler since I cant find anyone to go with me. I'm setting Kraig up on a savings plan at New-Mart so he will have the funds to go next year. As far as Afton goes, I'm trying to form a SS Team consisting of me, Kraig, Scott Cave, and Wade McGuire.

Time to rest...

Check out the guy wearing the pink pig outfit..