St. Joe's NORBA #1

Whew.

It really says "determination" (or maybe "unhealthy obsession") when one's idea of a good time is to get up before dawn, drive an hour or two, and then ride their bike in tons of slop, especially when it is expected to find slop. But that is exactly what Casey Ryback, Shop Minister, Mason Storm, Nico Toscani, and Dr. Wesley McClaren found themselves doing on this fine day. The temperature was actually in the upper 70s! Our cars were hot from sitting in the sun! We didn't need leg warmers and shoe covers!

After much discussion and pondering over just how the trails would look, it was decided that the race would for sure be held. Everyone was a little skeptical, but in the end it was worth it. We fought valiantly; and despite endo's, flats, defective replacement tubes, barbed wire in the brake rotors, soul-crushingly soft ground, and hub-deep mud holes and creek crossings, we emerged stronger for having gone through the experience, and better prepared to face the next challenge.

Shop Minister, on the other hand, still has some small lessons to learn about accepted style when on the bike, the first of which is that white cotton socks are never proper attire:

Rest assured that they didn't stay white for long. And besides, they could have been worse - sandals maybe?

Here we have the only podium of the day, Nico Toscani taking 3rd place in the Singlespeed class:


And here's an example of what your bike would may have looked like had you participate in today's events:


Btw, Hey Furby, you were driving in the same direction as us (away from St. Joes) but you had no bike - what gives? Better be at the next race...

Big thanks needs to be extended to Mark Grumpke, Bill H. and Dave Ploch (and all those who sacrificed a day of racing in order to put this on for the rest of us! Thanks Guys!