2012 Marysville Relay Race from stickboybike on Vimeo.
Marysville is always a great way to kick of the Dirt season and reunite with the mountain bike/cross family in the Mid-Atlantic community. The format for this particular 4 hour event was a Lemans start (run to your bike and go super anaerobic from the gun) do a lap, tag your next rider and repeat .The goal is to complete as many laps as you can before the the 4 hours is up and you can send a rider out for a lap before as long as you get them out by 3:59:59 on the timer.
Photo courtesy of Sandie Reynolds
We sent a total of 4 teams(2-two man teams and 2- four man teams representing a broad range of talent and age groups) Here is what the teams looked like:Duo 1: Clark E, Mark K
Duo 2: Will M, Chris S
Qaud 1: Jared T, Justin, Shane, Mike A
Qaud 2: Sean M, MikeB, Ean M, Owen B
After we set up shop it was down to business. It was good to stand next to local strong man Blake Bricker and stir up some laughs..3,2,1 GO!! .... I tried to get a good start position for the run; took the sideline near all the various metals and fibered bikes laying in my path and finally was able to get an average run stride going without blowing completely, grabbed the bike and put in a descent 1st lap with Clark passing me right near the finish. Tagged Mike and off he went as Ean prepared for his first lap. Mike put in a solid lap and turned it over to Ean as I accompanied him to buffer some of the passing traffic( I forgot to mention that he is only 8 yrs old and not exactly setting records yet). We came in and handed over to Owen(age 10) as he set off solo ,Mike nervously waited for his return.
Photo courtesy of Sandie Reynolds
When Owen was out I actually didn't expect for Ean to go back out , he looked mentally and physically beaten. I did everything I could to rehydrate and refuel him, this is where I drop my own expectations and as a father and think of the experience through his eyes, play it cool and let him call the shots without talking him down from the ledge. I gave him the option to end it but didn't over do it the selling of the idea, mainly just made sure he was eating, drinking and staying cool. I lost track of where Owen was and before I knew it he was looking to tag me. I went back out for lap 2 and tried to keep a good pace, I thought we were going to have to call it a day and I was good with that but not sure how it would go over. Luckily I ended up in good company with Wes the Conqueror for half a lap and had a chance to chat with him. He wasn't going full gas for some reason (he ended up telling me he was soloing the whole race,and ended up with 13 solid laps.) When I ended up coming in from my lap, Ean had completely bounced back and was his normal self. Awesome! Back to focusing on finishing what we came for. Mike ripped another lap and sent Ean out for lap 2, with a much better time of it.
Photo courtesy of Sandie Reynolds
Owen was next and off he went to master the logs of the Osterling farm.(?) I was up again before I could stuff some Nuttela dipped coconut cookies in my face, I made the last lap count and stood out of the corners knowing the clock was ticking. I tagged Mike and he set off, not knowing Ean planned on doing another lap. Mike came near the finishing stretch and made it with a minute to spare, so Ean went off on his 3rd and final lap and when the last bit of traffic went by we had the course to ourselves(yeah we high five'd a little bit) 11 laps total we ended up 21st out of 65- 4 person teams.I didn't completely forget the rest of the team but have to admit it was a struggle to keep myself and Ean straight for the whole day. I checked in with everyone as much as I could and was glad to hear good reports of fun times and hard efforts. Clark and Mark made a valiant effort and there results were skewed but as I type this I am having it rectified. Total laps for them were 14 completed. Will and Chris were throwing down hot laps also both with a few slight mechanical issues and "run ins" with the local forestry, but in the end had a impressive result. Total laps 13.
Photo courtesy of M. Allison
As for our other 4 person team they put in great laps as well with Jared overcoming a mid-week upper respiratory infection and showed up in great spirits. Justin broke in his new bike proper and now seems to have an addiction to the dirt and rocks. Shane and Mike A came out of mountainbike racing retirement to show that they still have the skills. Mike wasn't sure if he would have to go out for a third lap but Shane made sure he had another chance to do the figure eight course.(Ean and I saw him out there and I heckled him a little bit, good times) They ended their day with a total of 12 laps.
Looking forward to putting in some more saddle time with this bunch and spending time with the rest of the Mid-Atlantic racing community. Huge thanks to Sandie Reynolds and Mike A's wife for the stellar shots.
Photo courtesy of M. Allison
Thanks for reading! ~SM
