Bavarian Bike and Brew

For those who are unfamiliar with the Bavarian Bike and Brew in Leavenworth, WA, it is an event not to be missed.  The course serves a capillary-bursting climb followed by a brake-burning descent that racers complete one, two or three times, but their efforts are rewarded with an all-you-can-drink-for-fifteen-bucks beer festival, a chance to win passes to Stevens Pass (and other great prizes) in the raffle, live music and delicious food, all set at the picturesque Gibbs Organic Farm.  And heck, what other race includes a beer stein with your entry?  On top of all that, the race is situated just minutes from the tourist-luring bavarian-themed town of Leavenworth, which, by the way, is on the dry, sunny side of the mountains; we enjoyed 80 degree weather all weekend!

After surviving traffic and nearly leaving behind a phone, wallet, and suitcase, Rueben and his wife Jill, Derik, Michelle, Rachel, Nancy, Bernie, Jamey, Lee and I met for some pre-race beer at the new Icicle Brewery in Leavenworth.  Lee and his buddy Mike left to camp onsite, while the rest of us once again made our home the Reflections "Cabin," a huge vacation home riding distance from the race site that came equipped with a BBQ and kitchen which came in handy for breakfast the next morning.  After some pancakes and smoothies, we were off for a day of racing, beer drinking, and sunburns.

Erin on lap 2

Much as I love this event, the course has gotten the better of me for the last few years - in fact, I distinctly remember being near tears on my second lap last year - and this year wasn't shaping up to be much better.  I had come down with a cold three days before and knew that within minutes of the start, I would be a wheezing mucus-fest, which was pretty much true.  Remembering last year, I started mellow and paced myself up the road climb and into the singletrack.  I slowly caught up to two other ladies on the four mile leg sapping climb, and then the payoff; four miles of nothin-but-downhill.  The downhill is screaming fast and nearly always causes a broken collarbone, concussion, or separated shoulder to a racer or three, so I was cautious; unfortunately, my caution cost me some time and one of the girls I passed on the climb passed me back on the descent.  After fifteen minutes of downhill bliss, I settled in to another forty of minutes of climbing torture.   Near the top of the climb on my second lap, I looked back and saw Rachel had nearly caught up to me.  Rachel has bested me on this course every other year, but this year, I was determined not to let her beat me again.  The climbing was my opportunity to stay ahead of her, as she had been ripping it up on DH and SD courses all spring, but I was set.  I opened it up and let it rip for my second lap, and was able to stay ahead of her all the way to the finish line AND shave 11 minutes off my time from last year.  Nothing like a little teammate competition!  Unfortunately, I still occupied the second-to-last spot in my age category.  Next year!!!

Derik: 2nd Place Expert Men 35-44

Other GL6ers ROCKED THE HOUSE!!  Both Derik and Rueben earned a spot on the podium, each taking 2nd place in two very competitive categories!  And, both Lee and Nancy scored some Steven's Pass weekend passes in the raffle!  We got our money's worth out of the beer garden, then rode back to the cabin and made use of the BBQ.  I can't wait for next year!!  Definitely one of the best bike events of the season!

Rueben: 2nd Place Sport Men 19-34

Results
Expert Men 35-44
Derik Archibald, 2nd
Lee Peterson, 17th

Expert Men 45+
Bernie Miller, 15th

Open Women 35-44
Michelle Kautzmann, DNF

Sport Men 19-34
Reuben Andrews, 2nd

Sport Women 19-34
Erin Roe, 7th

Sport Women 35+
Rachel Delateur, 7th

Sport Singlespeed
Jamey Poelker, 5th

Jamey singlespeeds it up the road climb

24 Hours of Spokane

Team Shredded Bits and the Funky Junk: 3rd Place!

For the 2011 Round and Round 24hr mountain bike race in Spokane, we combined a team of Green Line 6 and Olympia Orthopaedic racers to form The Shredded Bits and the Funky Junk racing in the 5 Person Co-Ed Category.  Team members were Derik Archibald (GL6), Michelle Kautzmann (GL6), Ann Mitchell (OOA), Brian Koder (OOA) and Brian Mitchell (GL6), we also had two awesome support people, Camp Bitch Karen Kimmel and Camp Bitch's Bitch Camille Terhune (Camp Bitch is what they called themselves, they even had embroidered aprons).  Our goal was to go out and have a great time camping and racing and that is what we did.

We determined that Derik would take the first lap which consisted of a 3/4 mile Le Mans run to help thin out the 200+ rider field.  The course was dry and fast and each lap was approximately 15 miles.  At noon the anticipation was shattered by a loud gun blast and the race was on!  Derik set the tone for our team by riding a smoking fast 57 min first lap including the run and putting us in 1st place!  Michelle took the second lap completing it in just over 1 hour, next was Brian Koder coming in at 57 min, Ann in an hour and 7 minutes and finally I got to race coming in at 1hr 4min.  This was a theme we would carry out for the next 20 hours, one fast lap after another.

The team was exceptional, we didn't have any flats or mechanicals and everyone stayed healthy.  There were a few hard crashes, lots of bumps and bruises, some failing light systems and a great deal of pain dished out over 24 hours but our team stayed the course and fought on.  At the conclusion of each lap we were met by a Camp Bitch holding a frosty beverage, for some it was Recoverite, for others it was beer or a bottle of booze. Back at camp there was always a hot meal waiting for the rider coming off a lap and lots of support and encouragement from the team.  We could not have raced as hard without our amazing support team.

In the middle of the night we were in second place in a hard fought battle for the top four spots.  We went back and fourth from second to fourth place through the night laps and into the next morning.  When the dust settled at noon on Sunday we were on the podium in 3rd place out of 16 teams, the top three places were separated by minutes after 24hrs of racing.  All three teams on the podium completed 23 laps in 24hrs.  Shredded Bits and the Funky Junk covered 338.1 miles at an average speed of 13.7 miles per hour!

It was a special event for me, we had an amazing team with an amazing support crew.  I feel honored to have raced as part of the Shredded Bits and the Funky Junk this year.  Everyone poured out everything they had on each lap, there was a lot of pain and a lot of fatigue but also a lot of fun. 

I saw two other GL6 racers in Spokane, Henry Gertje who was smoking fast putting in sub hour lap times and racing in a different category then me and Luke Brechwald who was camping with us and racing solo.  Great job to those guys who represented the team very well.

24hr racing is a very different experience, it is very difficult and painful but also very addicting.  For me, while racing, I cant stop thinking about how I never want to do this again but then when it ends I cant wait for another 24hr event.  Lee Peterson, Erin Roe and I will be representing GL6 in the 24hrs of Bend in September and yes, I can't wait.

-Brian

Indie Series #1: Dry Hill, Port Angeles WA

The first Indie Series race of 2011 offered up a slightly different course than the typical XC race.  The downhill-racing roots of Dry Hill influenced the course layout and made for an interesting event.  The first mile+ of the course was a short loop with ups and downs that spit riders out back at the starting line.  Next came a grind up a gravel road, a grind up singletrack, more grinding up road, grinding up singletrack, road again. . . you get the idea.  The highest point of the course was near the top of a particularly nasty grade.  Upon hitting the top though, all pain was quickly forgotten as the trail turned into a super-fun super-D style run.  Roots, whoopdies, tight turns, drops, steep turns, mandatory ladders, optional ladders and a finish on the last 200 yards of the downhill race course all made for a white-knuckled good time.  Kyle and Jamey both rode fully-rigid single speeds and were lucky their teeth didn’t rattle out of their heads before it was over.  This course really favored skilled all-mountain riders, and the results show that team GL6 does indeed have some mad skillz. 

The award for perseverance goes to Jamey.  As he started on the downhill in first place during the first lap, the spindle to his right pedal snapped off.  Rather than quitting and rolling back down the road to the bottom, Jamey rode the downhill section with only one pedal and a metal spike sticking out where the other one used to be.  He managed to reach the bottom with only one large gouge in his leg.  (Ouch!)   He then proceeded to hunt for Theresa’s car keys, get his toolbox out of the car, put on a mismatched pedal, and go finish the race.  Now that is dedication!

-Theresa

Indie Series #1: Dry Hill Results 5/22/11

Bernie Miller, 4th, Expert Men 35-44

Kyle Curtin, 5th, Expert Singlespeed

Jamey Poelker, 4th, Sport Singlespeed

Theresa Nation, 2nd, Sport Women 35+

John Curtin, 7th, Sport Men 45+

NW Cup #2 Results

NW Cup #2 Results 5/14/11
Jamey Poelker, 13th, Cat II Men
Edward Vergara, 20th Cat II Men
Rachel Delatuer, 3rd, Cat II Women 40+
Dani Vergara, 3rd, Cat III Open Women

Stottlemeyer 30/60 Miler, Port Gamble WA

The Stottlemeyer 30/60 race in Port Gamble marked the series opener for the new NW Epic Series and the first race of an ever-growing endurance race scene here in WA.  I signed up for the 30 miler, but after watching the rain outside my window for the weeks leading up the race, I began to get a little nervous.  For one thing, I'd never ridden out there before and had no idea what the trails were like.  Mike rode the course a few weeks before the race, and said the course was "rooty, twisty and rooty, and rooty.  Did I mention it was rooty?  And there's a lot of climbing at the end.  Better tighten your cleats."  Capitol Forest has a huge variety of trails, but twisty, technical, root-strewn singletrack is not among them; I slow down to a crawl once I get in the stuff.  For another, this was the wettest spring on record, so adding mud to the mix certainly wouldn't help my time.  I headed up north with only three goals for the race 1) no injuries  2) no mechanicals  3) finish before the cut-off and put all my effort into the course.

Henry completing 60 miles!

Mike, FOCF regular Darin Handy, and Brian and Ann joined me on the 30 mile course, while Todd and Henry took on the 60 miler.  Todd, Henry and the 60 milers took off first, followed by us 30 milers half an hour later.  The first lap began with a two mile gravel road climb, after which we would enter the singletrack and do two loops.  Good thing too, because with over 118 racers all starting at once, and miles of singletrack ahead of us, we wanted to spread out a little.  The climb was a nice warm up, and then it was into the single track.  I had a fairly good position on the climb, but let a train of faster people go by me shortly after entering the trail.  The first 5-7 miles was exactly as Mike had described; twisty and rooty.  I took it easy, staying focused on the trail, conserving energy and keeping frustration at bay.  The singletrack ended in a fast gravel road section, a relief after the slow going in the technical stuff, which turned into some fast hardpacked singletrack.  I felt pretty good as I approached the first aid station and considered passing it by, but decided not to risk it.  I guzzled an FRS drink (my savior during the Cap. Forest 50 last year), crammed some shot blocks in my mouth, stuck three more on my stem, and off I went.  The fast, flowy trail continued, but there hadn't been a lot of elevation gain and I knew the last half of the course would dish out all the climbing.  I was right.  The singletrack became narrower, rootier, muddier, and twistier, and pretty soon I was slowly manuevering through a section much like the first part of the course, only this time, it was harder and had climbs thrown in for good measure.  I was still feeling fairly strong, but fatigue was slowly nibbling away at my legs.  The lap ended with a couple steep climbs, and a long, muddy, energy sucking false flat not unlike Lost Valley in CF.  Finally, the course went downhill, then climbed briefly up a gravel road to the second aid station the beginning of the second lap.

Erin pushing to the finish line

I fueled up again at this aid station, but as soon as I began my second lap, I lost my mojo.  I felt sick, took poor lines, and was generally a mountain biking mess.   The shot blocks I ate were a gelatinous lump in my stomach, my legs were beginning to ache dully, and I couldn't stay focused.  If there was one place where I lost time, this was definitely it.  Luckily I was over it by the time I hit the first road,  managed to put a smile on my face through the flowy section, and stayed focused through the climbs at the end, and finally I was DONE!  Even though Ann broke her chain five miles from the end and still beat me running/coasting to the finish, I felt accomplished finishing a 30 mile race so early in the season.  I would be lying if I said it wasn't hard, but I would also be lying if I said it wasn't a blast!


Results
30 Miler
Open Women
Erin Roe, 12th, 73nd overall

Open Men
Brian Mitchell, 25th, 50th overall

Masters Men
John Curtin, 26th, 96th overall
Mike Scholl, 30th, 108th overall

60 Miler
Masters Men
Henry Gertje, 5th, 34th overall
Todd Davidson, 13th, 79th overall

Mike is all smiles at Stotty