18 Hours On the Farm...

And There Off..

Mighty SpotBrand/Twin Six team with our ample support crew rolled into Goochland Virginia for the 18 Hours on the Farm. We show up with a plan, we execute and we are usually successful. This may have been one of our best set ups yet, add that to our awesome support which contained, Tom the Den Mother, Fitzy,Wes the Conqueror, Chunky Monkey, FFA Amy, and LisaV. They all worked extremely hard which made our job a lot easier.

This was one of the best venues yet, we had showers which were located at Fort Poonanny, air conditioned bathrooms, and a pool. The course was one of my favorites, lots of tight twisty single track and just enough climbing to make it hurt.

Our team rotation went like this, Les the international man of mystery, fatmarc, myself and Spot Paul. There was no lemans start, instead they did a rolling start paced by this,

An 1825 Columbian shaft drive ridden by the race promoter, Cycles Ed.

Les went out and through down our teams fastest lap and came in 2nd over all. He handed off to Marc who tore it up. I was next, I felt great and had what would be my fastest lap, I handed to Paul and he had a great lap as well. After our first rotation we had a slight lead.

Rotation 2, Les had daylight, the rest of us wouldn't have a day lap fro a while. Marc rocked out, but this was my worst lap. Paul just stayed consistent. Our lead has grown.

Rotation 3, More fast laps, plus I managed to find my legs again. Our lead is now over 30 minutes.

Rotation 4, our consistency is paying off. All of our laps were within seconds of our previous laps. We now have a lap in hand.

Rotation 5, Les and Marc would be riding in the dark, I needed my light for the first 15 minutes, but then the sun was finally up. Our lead has grown even more.

Last Rotation, Les throws down his 2nd fastest lap, Marc does the same. I take off. Now all I have to do is finish this lap, we have the win. You would think I would just cruise the course one last time and enjoy the moment. The problem is I am a racer, I rode this lap like someone was chasing me to take away our lead. I couldn't believe how good I felt. I don't know if it was that I knew this was my last lap or if it was the fact that there was a beer waiting for me at the finish line. I had the most fun on this lap, and when I came up to the transition I zipped up my jersey and through my hands up in victory.

In the end we racked up 23 laps in 18:12. Not only did we win the Expert/Pro 4 person class but we were the fastest over all. This was a great race at a great venue. I would like to thank the promoters and there volunteers for all the hard work they put into this event.

None of this would have been possible with out our sponsors: Spot Brand bikes, Twin Six, Henry's bike shop, and most of all my Beautiful wife.

Buddy