Boggs 4 Race Report by Mike Gin

Holy crap what a day! Perfect weather, trail conditions were great, lots of cool people having a good time, and a nice Team Wrong Way showing (19 total racers in all). First the good stuff - two podiums against some tough competition!!!

1st Place - 2 person Female team - Girl Power - Jeni Brookes and Jessica de Wit 3rd Place - 3 person Male team - Two Fast Guys and a Limey - Kyle Brookes, Allan Sherlock, Matt Walters (Mark Weir's team finished 1st in this category)

I think I've decided that I am only going to race team events and cross this year. The team races are so much fun and a great opportunity for a bunch of us to spend some time together (something we don't get to do very often). Much schmack was flying around which is always a fun thing.

Team Might as Well be Walking - Mike Gin, Bob Lofland, Paul Oellerich. You know a team led by someone who hasn't ridden his bike in 5 months is certainly not going to challenge for much. But we had fun (sounds like the response on American Idol when the judges pan the performance). I hit my goal of staying under 1 hour for each lap and saved my best lap for last. Double Espresso Clif Shot needs to be tested for performance enhancing drugs as this allowed me to power to my best time on the last lap. Good stuff! Paul hadn't done much more riding than me and came in with some respectable times. Mr. Lofland was solid and consistent as usual.

Girl Power - Jeni Brookes, Jessica de Wit. These two rocked it with 4 laps each. Jeni hasn't ridden much either but was very consistent with times just over an hour. And then there is Ms. de Wit. Clearly been riding the bike a fair amount as her times were 54-55 minute range. Smoked her last year's times. And no wedding to get in the way of her performance. No Jessica, you weren't lucky - those times were smokin'!!!

Two Fast Guys and a Limey - Kyle Brookes, Allan Sherlock, Matt Walters. Well what can you say about a team that finished 3rd in a group whose winning team was led by Mark Weir? I'd say that they kicked some arse. Kyle and Allan had some smokin' fast times (46 min range). Matt must have as well for them to finish where they did. Good job to our fast muthas!

Team Low Balls - Rich Davis, Scott Schlachter, Keith White. Led by skinny boy Schlachter, this team did well. But we won't know their lap times unfortunately as they had some timing issues with this team. But they had the overall correct. The Schlachter factor even infected the timing system. Best conversation of the day - Scott - "How soon before the race starts?" Me - "About 5 mins" Scott - "What?! The race starts at 8:15?" Me - "No, 8:30" Scott - "But my watch says 8:10" Me -"Funny, mine says 8:25" Rich - "Yeah, mine too." That explains a lot about Scott's timeliness or lack thereof... :) Keith and Rich whined like they always do but I'm sure turned in some good times.

Team Leftovers - Daniel Abernathy, Patrick Meyer, Jeff Hecox. Disaster struck these team about 500 yards into the race. Patrick and Allan bumped into each other and Patrick went down in a heap. Face down, arms facing backwards, looked like a bad fall. He hurt his thumb pretty good but managed to finish the lap. Might be broken, if not badly sprained. But he manned (boyed) up and completed 4 laps on the day. His moment of glory was tying my 2nd lap time. Dude, you need to aim higher really. But it was a fun semi-battle. Jeff was fast and I think finished his last lap right around 50 mins - nice! Daniel I think was a bit burnt out after spending some time in Sedona but still looked solid for his laps.

Sean Burns raced solo. I met up with him once on the trail and he was looking solid racing his singlespeed. Beat his goal of 6 laps and did 7. Way to go Sean!

Rafael Rius raced solo also. He showed his early season form was no fluke and did 8 laps. Think he might have podiumed had he gone out for that last lap. Still a great performance and 8 laps is just plain stupid.

Matt Leonard was on a team with a friend and had really solid times (most under 50 mins). Good day for him, definitely crushed his times from his first Boggs experience.

Mike Urbina was on a 2-person team and looked fit and I'm sure had some good times too. He did disappear afterwards though and missed the team photo.

John Hillstrom was on 2-person team and came down from altitude (about 3,000 down). John's always is in good shape so I'm sure his times were solid. Sorry John, missed you at the photo op too.

So a super successful day for Team Wrong Way at Boggs. I don't know how many times I have said this, but I'll say it again - this is likely the most fun you'll have racing. Don't miss out on next year's event. You know we'll be there in force as usual.

Good times!

Mike

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