fears, tears, beers, mud, beer, bikes, shred, and beer, Ely, NV

Ely was good to Team Bacon Strip yet again…

More or less.

The drive out was spectacular! Even though the torrential rains were disheartening and more than a little prophetic, the scenery was unbelievable. Central Nevada is alive right now. Sooo green, and the clouds are amazing!

Anyway, The Restless Ape and I rolled into to Ely around 10 PM on friday to find most of the team huddled around a picnic table drinking beer of all things. Captian Red Beard even rolled out from SLC with some riders!

That night it rained a bit. There was some dampness. In the morning though it looked like things were going to be perfect, and for the first 2 or so hours of the race they were! The race began with a quick tour of Ely casino and retail space with a trip through a shoe store and the Jailhouse Casino and the Hotel Nevada. There was even a nice stair drop to get out of the Hotel Nevada!

TRA and I got to the first checkpoint happy and rearing to go, just a few wheels back from Huck Tater. The sky was cloudy and threatening, but we had a strange and completely unfounded confidence that it would hold. Still, no one was wasting any time.

Downhill 1 done without any catasrrophe. Up and around and back and now it’s hailing. No worry, it can’t last. Up and around and back to checkpoint #2 and it lets up. And then 2 minutes later it’s raining, and it finally grows a pair and really gets nasty. TRA took off a few minutes ahead of me and probably got down most of that and the next timed sections before it got superbad. I was in gumbo hell. Mud in my eyes, mud gunking up EVERYTHING! No traction on the hills. One speed binding with all the grit in the chain. I took the slow road and still barely made it down without crashing. Rampage 29er tires aren’t that great in mud…

It was cold and rainy and there was a lot of general unfocused unhappiness on the course. Most if it taking place inside ceramic bottom bracket bearings. There were a record number of DNFs as riders took the direct route back to camp. And it was a cold, wet, windy and gritty route at that.

Being fast on the hills was a great benefit. Huck Tater got down and out ahead of most of the nastiness and those just behind us had an even worse time of it. But being in the sport class meant that it was beer and chili time for TRA and me. So we swapped peanutbuttery shammys for warm dry clothes while Nate went to the laundromat to dry his gear for the expert lap!

Around 2:00 Kalem made the call. The sky had cleared and the hope was that the riders could get at least half way to the top of Squaw Peak before getting soaked and frozen again. Unfortunately, the weather stayed sunny and warm the entire time and the riders enjoyed a fast, tacky, and BOMBING downhill ride.

The Restless Ape took 1st in the sport class and Nate screamed down Squaw Peak for 3rd in expert. Huck Tater took the crusty line on the descent on his fully rigid Retrotec, then cleaned up in the raffle. A DAMN fine showing for TBS yet again!

Nate spanking squaw peak! (photo by Barrett Donovan)

The Fears Tears and Beers is an enduro style race in Ely, NV where only certain mostly downhill sections are timed. It is organized by the Great Basin Trails Alliance and run by Kalem Lenard and a slew of local volunteers. It is an awesome race and I HIGHLY recommend you check it out. Thanks to all who helped make this miserable race possible by standing out in the cold and rain to check out times and record our misery!

We’ll be back next year to expand out collection of engraved pint glasses!

-M

EDIT:

Check out the Music of Stanton Moore:

Stanton Moore: All Kooked Out

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 at 7:28 am and is filed under bike races. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.