Lake Hope Race With Sean & Jeff

It was a scorcher this weekend in central Ohio. Not quite as bad as it had been, but plenty warm and humid for a mountain bike race. Luckily, Lake Hope is a regional fave for a XC race.  Flowing and fun singletrack darting through the woods makes for a fun day of suffering. Sean had stopped by to get his KMC X9SL chain mounted up the day before, with some brake work thrown in for good measure.  His Tomac Carbide was ready to race! 

We rolled south to the Zaleski State Forest early to get registered up and wait for Tookie, who was en route from Kentucky. Chillaxing in the shade, we got the boys ready to race and Dan Clark's wife and I rolled out to the feed zone to keep our people well fed and hydrated on a hot as hell afternoon. Thanks to HYDRAPAK for such amazing products like the GEL-BOT and DUAL-BOT...they completely saved the day. With a large number of racers DNF'ing in the feed zone thanks to failing legs, hydration was key to success here.

The guys looked surprising good, despite Sean's pre-race regimen of titty-bars and White Castle until 4 a.m. the day of the race. Jeff actually did NOT eat his weight in fried chicken before the race...unusual I know..but that seemed to work.  As everyone cam across the finish line, and results began to tabulate..we ended up with a stellar first place finish for Jeff in Clydesdale! The Slant Sixes really were a very popular tire for the guys this weekend, with only Sean running something slicker up front (like a Small Block!).

 Sean's new chain coupled with a 4 year-old cassette (I had no idea it was that old) would result in a poorly shifting drive train that would slow him down a great deal in the hill sections. With no crashes, no injuries and no mecahnical breakages..it was a successful weekend of the guys racing...and me HECKLING!  YAY HECKLING!

Chris