12 Hours of Lodi - Team DCMTB Knobby Moose Knuckles

12 Hours of Lodi Farms 2009 - 3 Person Open Sport - 3rd Place

It was a really fun race, though the first lap was pretty brutal. It was hard to ride fast since there were so many sharp turns and sudden grade changes all over the course. Flow was a bit hard to come by the first lap but on the second I really got into a grove and started to enjoy myself. I put in some decent lap times and after my first lap was never passed again during the race.


In the middle of Ilana's second lap and our teams 6th it started to rain... hard. The trails went to almost entirely dry and packed dirt to muddy slop in a matter of minutes. I had the next lap in half light half dark and all rain and slop. Turned out to be not as bad as I expected aside from the finishing mile or two where it had already been in bad shape before the rain. Ilana finished up our 9th lap and her 3rd at around 11:40 PM or so and we were keeping a close eye on the two teams behind us in the standings.

One appearded to have given up and left their chip on the table while the other was an unknown. I stuck around the timing tent kitted up and ready to go in case they came in and were doing another lap. I was ready to go man to man but really I didn't want to ride another lap if I didn't need to. Most of the teams had called it quits earlier so the trails were practically empty and I wasn't looking forward to a lonely dark and sloppy hour and a half plus out there again. I did try to convince a couple of people to ride and I'd go with them but no dice.

Post slop lap: Still smilin! Those black tights really hide a lot of the dirt that was caked on them.

Turned out ok though when the clock struck 12 and the 4th place team hadn't rolled in on a 9th lap so back to camp to get dry and warm again. Placing was awesome though I still haven't gotten the chance to actually climb the podium! Some day. Watching the last few riders coming in during the award ceremony made me even more greatful I didn't have to go back out. All in all an awesome way to start off the season on the trails!

The other DCMTB team also did well with a devastating win over their competition in the 3 person single speed category. Darren, Alex and Eric did an awesome job of riding solid lap times despite the courses brutally sharp and steep climbs riding 9 laps and being able to stop riding early when they realized they were at least 1 lap and 2 hours ahead of the next team or something. Hats off to those boys for some serious domination on the field.

(*I'd also like to state that the 1st place 3 Person Open Sport team would have placed 2nd in the Expert race/overall. There was certainly some stiff competition out there!)