Return to 7-Springs

This weekend is the 24hr Challenge at 7-Springs. I'll be competing on an 8-man corporate team for my friends and sponsors at Gretna Bikes & Lupine Lights. If you haven't had a chance to check out Lupine's amazing line-up of trail lights, check them out at www.gretnabikes.com.

I've had some epic rides at 7-Springs. Two in particular are the 2004 Collegiate National Championships and the 2006 24hr Challenge. One was epic in a good way, and one in a not-so-good way. The '04 Collegiate nationals was my last collegiate race ever, and after racing a few Collegiate National Championships on foreign turf (Georgia and Angel Fire), it was nice to only have to drive 1.5hrs to the race venue. The night before the XC, a storm came in and drenched the mountain, much to the dismay of the Mountain region and California schools. I, on the other hand, secretly was performing rain-dances all week, and was more than happy for the downpouring of delight. With a decent starting position, I managed an 11th place, which with some bad luck mixed in was a good result on the day. The race trashed my bike, and my chamois, but I was totally enthralled with my race and couldn't wait to go back to 7-Springs again.

Fast forward a little to the 2006 7-Springs 24hr race, and I was lending a hand to my buddies from Gretna Bikes on their corporate team. I was their lead-out man, getting to do the Lemans style start and the first 2 laps. The intent was to put time on the other corporate teams, enough so that we could lead comfortably for when the slower riders on the team went out on course. Instead, I ended up trashing myself and my bike, and came in after 2 laps in second. Bah!

So.....this year I'm bringing the cleaning gear and only doing 1 lap at a time. The tentative plan is to do 3 laps, fairly evenly spaced so that I can recover in between and pull the fastest laps possible. We'll see how that pans out.......

Hope to see you out there this weekend! Pray for foul weather! Muahahahahahaa!