Lodi Farms...

Let me start by saying OUCH!!! This race really hurt, but in the end the pain was worth it. Ever since fatmarc and L Webb did this race last year and told me how great the course was, I wanted to do it. Our community was well represented. Spot Paul and myself did the Duo class, fatmarc, L Webb, and Jeb Bagger did the 3 person single speed class, Matt Run Forrest and Fitzy rocked out solo. After sitting around camp for 5 hours it was time to race.

Our race went like this. Paul and I spent a good part of the day trying to figure out who was going first. Paul was the man. Lucky for him they decided to change the run from 100 yards to half a mile. Our plan was to do double laps with the possibility of switching to single laps if necessary. Paul had a good run but his light came unplugged and we had to take a second to fix it, the race started at Midnight. Despite the light issue Paul had a great start. Now I had almost 2 more hours before I had to ride. Paul came in and was a little upset with his laps. I told him it's a long race don't worry. I was off. I was surprised that I felt pretty good, it usually takes me a while to get going. There were a couple of climbs I thought walking would be more efficient, but I rode the whole course. On my 2nd lap I caught L Webb about 3 miles from the end. She was walking a climb I had planned to walk, now I felt like I had to ride it. I hand off to Paul and he takes off. Now came the hard part, every other 24 or 18 hour race I had done in the past we had support. I always had some one telling me when to get ready and how we were doing. Plus I would get about 4 hours off. I couldn't remember what time Paul went out so I sat at the transition area for about 40 minutes. The good thing was the sun had come up and I could ditch my light. I was still feeling pretty good on lap 3. By lap 4 I was starting to hurt, I felt slow but still turned a good lap. When I went to hand off to Paul he says he can't do another double, but he wants me to so that I go last. I went back to camp hurting, if I knew I would have backed off a little on my last lap. Now I only had 45 minutes to get ready for my next lap. Paul through down his fastest lap. My 5th lap went better than expected, I rode the entire course again. When I handed off to Paul he seemed really determined, even though he knew he would be doing a 7th lap, plus I informed him that we were in 3rd. Now I head out for my last lap, I have plenty of time to get Paul out, but I don't know how close 4th is. Just like my 5 previous laps I gave it everything, I was really hurting. My left knee and back were killing me. I felt like I was going pretty slow, but it turned out to be only a minute slower than my last lap. When I handed off to Paul for the final lap of our little 12 hour adventure, he told me we had 3rd locked up and he was just going to ride steady. The best part of my final lap was, now I could have a beer. A group of us headed down to see the last from our group finish up. My boy Spot Paul did it with style. The end of the lap was a creek crossing with a little climb then you were done. Paul being a track guy laid down one of the sickest sprints I have ever seen. Plus he let out a scream to wake the dead.











He was too fast to catch the front of him.


In the end I was Happy with 3rd. Our class was stacked, there were 25 or so teams. The winners were locals one of which was the Virginia state single speed champion. Second place went to Topher and Buck (the current SSWC) and in 4th was Gwadzilla and his partner. All were on single speeds.

Now for the rest of our Posse. Matt had a great first lap but suffered a bad asthma attack and had to pull out after 3. Fitzy did 3 laps, took a nap then went out to do 4 more. But the big story belongs to the 3 person single speed team of He's Only Twelve. Marc L Webb and Jeb Bagger won there race. Not only did they win but they crushed the 2nd place team. Jeb was the runner and he was awesome. He came in in the top 15 or so, did I mention he was on a single speed and that he is only 12. Then to top it off he throws down a 56 minute last lap. My last lap was a 55.

This was another great weekend for the Mighty, Mighty Spot Brand Team.
I feel lucky to a part of this team.

Cheers,
Buddy