Rocky Hill Ranch, Smithville, TX
Wow, such a small difference for a 24 hour Grande team race.
I was racing for the second straight year with the Texas Chain Gang 24hour endurance team consisting of experts Melanie and Steve Etherton, along with sport racers Bob Sparacino, Rudy Rymal, and John Conwell. Our rotation was just keeping it simple, 1-6 and repeat. I was slot two and raced 4 laps, approximately at 1pm, 7pm, 1:30am, and 8am. All things remaining the same, if I just turned my first lap as quick as I did last year we would have WON! (Or my third lap, or fourth for that matter!!!) It was a team effort and some of us were off of our pace from last year and it affected our overall result. We all did our level best and are proud of the result.
Second place, Grande.
The course conditions were a bit more challenging than last year, as rain in days/weeks prior had many creek crossings wet. This affected brakes and drive trains and it was a chore cleaning your bike every lap you turned, and sorting the drive train, lube etc readying your rig for your next lap. I noticed if I traipsed through the large puddles I collected more mud on the drive train and had fits with my rear derailleur; but if I bombed through them splashing up water, it would clean the mud off and I could shift. So I was bombing all the stream crossings once I figured that out. Kinda fun actually!!
Rudy and Kelly Rymal, official team photogs contributed some pixels:
Course Marshall Mike and I talking bikes and trail conditions (team area under Bob's RV canopy):
Lemans style start in back ground, me in the foreground sporting the retro GT jersey:
Getting ready to receive the baton (necklace with team # token) from Steve, note the stylin' GTDC kit:
Podium pix with the Texas Chain Gang:
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