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A silly Dad and his fatherly experiences in homeschool and leading his family in Christ
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May. 22, 2008
12 Hours of Addison Oaks
Last Saturday I had the opportunity to race with my team, MTB-Life Racing. This was a team that I co-founded with my buddy, Nate, back in about 2003. It originally started as a downhill racing team, but not long after we started downhill racing went away from MI. On a whim, several years ago we decided to try a four man endurance race. We won it. From there on the team has raced the last three years as a cross country endurance team, and showed complete transformation by winning the Michigan Endurance Cup last year.
Enough for the history lesson. This was a the first race of the season and I was really excited to be able to race with my buddies again. Since the switch to this format I have not been a really good contributing member as I have been dealing with my weight and health. I had been on the trainer all winter, so I wanted to do this really bad.
I also wanted to see if the boys would like it. I tried seeing for a few weeks if they wanted to do it and had mixed reactions. I thought my oldest was going to come unglued at the thought, so I made it mandatory (a parental mistake).
Well, the morning came and we packed up the minivan and headed off to the races. Packed up with bikes, helmets, gear, lawn chairs, water, a million peanut butter sandwiches, the three of us found a way to fit. We got there and it threatened rain. No matter, we are men (insert large eyeroll). We got there and got our gear unpacked, and worked with our team members, Nate (the team manager and other Co-founder), Andy, and Justin to get our pit area put together.
The boys were all signed up for the Advanced Mens Open class in the six hour format. I was signed up with my team in the 12 hour format. The time came for the riders meeting and the start and we were ready to roll. The team formats took off at the same time. We elected Andy to go first, and go first he did.
Nathan, my oldest was a little intimidated and lost in the event. He ended up missing his start and taking off with the solo riders.
Nathan is the rider in the center of the frame, farthest away from the lens.
Andy's mom came and helped us with our pits for a good part of the day. She counted lap times and made sure everyone had what they needed for prior tot heir laps. She also provided cheering and cowbell support as our riders went on through the start/finish area.
Andy did his first two laps in about an hour. Nathan did his first lap in a little less than an hour. I think he learned early that the option to ride mom's bike, which was over ten pounds lighter, might not be a bad idea.
Justin went out for the next two laps and pushed hard.
 Justin races endurance races as well as adventure races. He is an excellent rider and a great guy to hang around with.
Jordan went out for the boys. He had a blazing lap for being the littlest rider out on the field. He turned in a lap at about 40 minutes. Keep in my mind that my team was averaging 31 minutes a lap.
Nate followed Justin out after his laps. Being a new father seemed to energize Nate as he had to show little Cooper and his wife how it was done.
From there, it was my turn. Each of the guys on our team turned in two laps a piece, but we felt it was best I only did one as none of us were sure what I would do. I think I did good for my lap as this shot was taken of Andy just before I came up!
I turned in my lap times in the low 40 minute range. This was really a highlight for me as it meant that all the winter trainer time paid off. Yes I was the slowest rider on our team, but I wasn't so slow that we were out of contention. We battled for the lead all day long. At some point the other team battling with us got a little lead, and I am sure I was part of the difference in that, but our team had three consistent riders and only one slower rider.
Nathan and Jordan had a great time. They ended up doing 7 laps in 6 hours. I think that was a pretty good start for them as it was unlike anything they had done before. They ended up with both of them riding moms bike and pulling a low 40 minute lap, then Nathan took his bike out for the last lap they could get in. In the end, they were awarded a third place.
As the race wore on we found ourselves about five minutes out of the lead.
We all worked as hard as we could. Our teammate Eddie was not able to race with us at this race as it was his daughter's birthday. He did come to support us however, and this seemed to add a real energy to the whole team.
 Eddie jumped in providing tech support and moral support. He kept us informed of every lap and up to the minute stats of whether we were picking up time. This was a big plus. It allowed us to chip away at that five minutes knowing exactly what we had to do. Each rider left their lap knowing how much time the previous rider had made up. As Nate left with somewhere near an hour left in the race he worked as hard as he could actually changing the tide of the race. He gave us a one minute lead!
Andy and Justin were able to capitalize on this lead and keep us ahead coming in to the final minutes of the race.
Near the 11:58:00 mark Justin came in, keeping us about a minute up we thought. Andy went out as hard as he could. 11:59:00 came and no sign of the team now moved to second. 11:59:30 came and still no sign. 12:00:00 came and still no sign. We had the race won! The other rider came up almost 2 minutes out of being able to send another rider on the track.
In the end I could have taken the last lap as it was just a victory lap, but it was great just to be on a team like this. Eddie's support really drove home that it was a total team win as every one of us had a role in this win. It was a great way to start the season and a great time for us as a group.
I would like to thank our team for letting me compete in this race with them as well as we, as a team, would like to thank our sponsors, Soul Cycles, WTB Tires, Synergy Broadband, Trails Edge Bike Shop, FSA, E-Load, and The Rehn Company.
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Comments
May. 22, 2008 - Addison
 Posted by Eddie
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Rob, it was a great time. Having all of us there sharing in the kickoff of the season was the most important thing to me. The win was just the icing on the cake.
I look forward to racing together as a team as we go into the season.
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May. 22, 2008 - Very cool!
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