The 2009 12 Hour Dirt Sweat and Gears was bound to be a little muddy –a steady rainfall for the week prior to the event would leave the clay type soil soaked and unable to dry before race time. In 2008, rain hit the event the night before, but because it was so dry out the week prior the only bad conditions hit us full in the face on the first lap. Things got better as the laps went by.

In 2009 we could only wish it was that good.

Race start was typical – Le Mans style start and then the mad dash through some fields into the single track. I had a decent start and was sitting in around the top 10, which was right where I needed to be to get me out of the traffic.

Rain started about 5 minutes before the start of the race and stopped about ½-way through my first lap and had made the mud a little slippery but thin and ride-able. I had switched to a mud tire late on Friday and it was paying off – by ¼ of the way through the first lap, I could no longer see any riders behind me. About 3/4’s of the way through, I was catching Harlan and knew I was riding well but kept steady. Once Harlan caught sight of me, he surged.




I went out for lap two.

The mud in the fields got dangerously slick and I crashed hard in the fields before the single track. At this point I knew the single track was going to be bad but I had no idea of what was about to come.
The first sections of single track were somewhat ride-able – and then it went way downhill from there. The rain had stopped more than an hour before and the sun was now turning wet clay that would fly off of your tire to a moist clay that stuck to everything. And I mean everything: tires, derailleurs, clothing, etc. The mud was accumulating so bad on the tires, that you had about an inch of mud on both sides of your tire and it was deep enough that it looked like you were running a deep dish aero rim.

I would clean the bike off, ride ten feet – and then would have to clean it off again. It was an exercise in futility and was frustrating to say the least. My second lap would take me three hours compared to my first lap at little over an hour.

I was seriously contemplated stopping at this point already. Riders were dropping out left and right, some even refused to do one lap after seeing riders turning back or turning 3+ hour lap times.




Grabbing my third bike and hoping things would get better, I went out for my third lap.

In the fields, riders were now saying to hell with the trail and were blazing new paths in the somewhat dry grass. At least it wasn’t muddy – until you got back into the single track.

The single track was now pretty much impossible to ride – anything you would think could be ridden had 3-4 inches of muddy clay waiting to rip your derailleur off. And soon it did – at about two miles into my third lap, my rear derailleur broke. Sitting in sixth place, I pulled out and in disbelief. I spent the last four hours literally pushing my bike and now I would have to push it another half hour back to the pits.

Ironically enough, all but three Pro Solo’s pulled out on the same lap – so I placed in the spot where I pulled out: 6th.

Afterwards, race organizers were already in conversations with many of the riders as to options for 2010 if the same conditions existed as they have plenty of land to make it happen. Hindsight is always 20-20 and you have to take into consideration in any race the weather and geographic location. The organizers are top notch and despite the 2009 conditions, I’ll be back in 2010.



After the DSG, this now puts me in second place in the USA Cycling Endurance Series behind Harlan Price. Next up: the Cowbell Challenge. I need more cowbell.