EXPO Represents at 12 Hours of Gears

12 hrs. of Gears

Left to go to the course early to pre-ride a lap and see who was all there. Pulled in under cloudy skies with cool temps and a slight chance of rain –perfect conditions. Got there just in time to see Jeff Frings get off to a good start on hit the trails around 7th or so in the 6 hr. solo race. Jeff seemed to ride a smooth consistent race with his later laps getting quicker to roll in for 7th overall. John Gregorski and myself lined up for the 3 hr. solo event and at 3:00 pm sharp we hit the trails. John too had a good clean race from the looks of it and finished off in tenth.
I had an interesting day. Got an awesome start getting underway in second behind Carlos and then getting caught by Ron Stawicki early on, which I expected. Followed those two for a couple of laps when Ronsta got around Carlos and decided to up the pace. That was the last I saw of them. I could see John Miller slowly gaining on me and after a couple more laps he caught me and we rode together for a while. John started to pull away and I settled in to 4th just trying to hold out till the end and stay strong. About half way through I hit a small rock in a fast sweeping corner and hit the ground hard. Got back up with a few bumps and bruises and carried on. About 15 minutes later I felt the squirming squishy feeling of a flat rear tire. Crap. Pulled over to fix it and watched a bunch of guys stream by and wondered how many were in my group. Got going pretty quick and started to repass all the guys who just got by me. Felt good from then on and stayed on the gas all the way to the finish to hold on to 4th overall. Pretty happy considering everything.

Expo Racing had a good showing with all 3 riders out on the course together for a while, no dnf’s and everyone made it to the finish of their races. The Kenda’s stuck like glue, the Lazers and the Ergons were cool and comfy and the Clif bars kept everyone fueled till the end.

Chris Tamborino

Jeff Frings in action

Speaking of Jeff Frings...Here is race report #2

I think the word is out on the WEMS races. The competition is getting tougher and tougher, andthere's more of it.The weather was perfect for a race, a little peek of sun from time to time, temps in the 60's and just arandom sprinkle of rain. Course was great as always. Those Pedal Moraine folks really know how to put on a race. The new section of singletrack through the pines was pretty tight, but it got more fun as the day wore on and you needed an excuse to slow down a bit. It was good to see the other EXPO guys and fun to race for the first time in the new kit. Chris T. ended up 4th and John G. rounded out the top ten in 3 hour. In the 6 hour solo, two years ago at the same race I did 61.6 miles and ended up on the podium. This year I did 67.2 and ended up 7th. The legs felt a bit sluggish, but that just means one thing... intervals. ugh... Anyhow the only thing missing was the rest of the team. I have to give a huge shout out to Deanna for the awesome support. Every lap she had exactly what I needed to keep me moving the whole 6 hours. Maybe a recovery spin today and then maybe another race???

Later,

Jeff