PLRA XC NORBA

The 2nd to last MI NORBA race here in MI found us in Waterford at the infamous Pontiac Lake Rec Area. A 10 mile single track XC race course that is fast and technical (because of the speeds). The home of the Simonster, as he is undefeated at the course in any format (TT,XC). The whole shot was allowed (by Simonster) to be taken by Crispy and the race was off with about 19 racers in the Elite field. Crispy held the lead for about 2 miles when Simonster and Tanguy slipped by him on the trail. Leaving Jason Lummis and Joberon sitting behind Crispy, while the rest of the field became real unhappy with the situation. Crispy had enough of the front and pulled it over, which left Lummis to set pace. Jason rode alone for a few miles until Joberon came flying up to set tempo. By the end of the 1st lap Simonster was leading followed by Tanguy, then Joberon, Lummis and Tanguy's 2 teammates Kuhn and Herriman. This continued for the last 2 laps of 3, until Jason popped and Joberon and Herriman took it to the line for a 3rd place Finish by Joe Brzuchanski, Herriman 4th, Kuhn 5thand Lummis dropped to 7th.
Joberon Checks in with his race report below:

BUSY DAY AT PLRA

Racing continued this past Sunday at my "home" course Pontiac Lake. It was the7th race of 8 in the Tailwind NORBA Series. After missing the PLRA TT due to injury and two blowouts last week at Ore to Shore I was really hoping to do well.

Not only was I hoping to do well, I HAD to do well. I had promised to race hard and that every pedal stroke would be in honor of Jim Brehmer. The brother of my co-worker and friend Bill Brehmer had been killed in a motorcycle accident one week earlier. Jim was a big fan of anything with two wheels. Including the wonderful sport of Mountain Biking.

I was hoping to go hard right from the start. Things didn't go my way until a couple miles into the trail. Once I managed to get around some traffic it was time to go to work. The Simonster and The Flying Frenchman were already way up on us. After a couple miles of hard pedaling I looked back to see Jason L.,Robert H. and Greg Kuhncappi. The four of us hammered along until midway throughthe 3rd lap when we spotted a beautiful damsel in distress. My girlfriend Erin was standing trailside and looked very shaken up. I hit the skids almost taking out my teammate Jason(Sorry). I stopped to see if she was OK and in a very convincing tone she said she was fine and to keep going. I quickly hopped back on my bike and worked my way back up to Jason and Greg. Robert has formed a pretty good gap and was out of sight. I caught my breath, went around J-Lum andKuhncappi and bridged up to the Robert. I couldn't believe I caught him. We battled until the end where I managed to get around Robert at the line for my best Elite finish, 3rd place. It was bittersweet feeling as Erin was banged up pretty good and had to go to the hospital. Thankfully she walked out of there with only a broken wrist.

Jim, his bro Bill and the entire Brehmer family had been on my mind all week. All the way up to that start line. I thought to myself how great it would be to have Jim back for some laps at PLRA. He was there. And he helped carry me to my best Elite finish to date. Our thoughts and prayers are with Jim and his family.

I would like to give a special thanks to the folks that helped Erin and the other injured rider(s) Sunday. Get well soon Erin and Co.
Thanks for reading.
Joberon

James Thomas Brehmer

The Simonster in front of his winning ride holding the winners trophy and $$. Here is a link to a short video taken by Jan Mack at the awards:



THE SIMONSTER REPORT:
I looked over to my team mate Joberon and said "This is it, We are supposed to feel the best we have felt all year, RIGHT NOW." It was the morning of the Ore to Shore MTB race in Marquette MI and we were out doing our casual warm up for the 48 mile suffer fest against some of the best bike riders in the Midwest. We got lined up for the start as we all listened to this crazy guy singing songs. All I could hear was him screaming, (Queens) Bicycle! Bicycle over and over again and I caught one of Jason Lummis' smart ass remarks out of my right ear "Hey, it's Simonster after 6 beers." Then, 54321 we were off. Doug Swanson took the whole shot and began a relentless attack right off the start. It pretty much stayed together on the pavement except for a couple of surges from the tandem and Swanson. We made our way onto the dirt and veered over next to the railroad tracks where the tandem decided to take the smooth line right up next to the tracks. My team mate John Meyers and I stayed on the bumpy grass and sure enough, we ended up right on the front of the race. I came to the front and lead the race over the first little undulation and towed everyone to the base of the luge run climb. I put it down pretty hard up the first little section and carried it all the way to the top. I looked back and Swanson was the only one who stayed with me. We were together for another few hundred yards where we got to another bumpy loose hill. I gave it one more hard effort and Swanson had popped off my wheel. From that point on I knew I had to dig in and open up the gap as far as possible. I wound out my 44-11 and hit 30 MPH on a few of the early flat sections in my best time trial position. Before I knew it, I was out of sight. I had no idea how big the gap was until about half way through when I ran to the top of Misery Hill. I looked back and didn't see anyone! At that point I knew I just had to keep the pace up and avoid mechanicals and I would roll in for the win. I was so excited and full of emotions when I saw my wife Mitch out on the course, I almost screwed up the bottle hand up at mile 27. I downed the entire bottle and kept cranking on my way to the win. It was nice to be able to slow down near the finish and enjoy the moment. The Quiring 29er performed incredibly, as it should have, seeing as Scott designed the bike specifically for winning the Ore to Shore. I ran a rigid Q stick cromo fork along with a couple of other trick parts  and got the weight down to 20 lbs. 29er frame and wheel/tire technology has come so far in the past year it's a noticeable difference. I would aslo like to thank the o2s race committe for putting on another great event and the Marquette county residents for supporting the race and racers the whole weekend. The awards where great and the people even greater.

BIG WHEELS ROLL OVER the Ore To Shore MTB Epic

Click here for race story from local paper > MINING JOURNAL

The Simonster dominates the O2S mountain bike Epic..... 50 miles of off road XC point to point racing. Mike Simonson wins by 4+ minutes against a very strong field including past winner, Brian Matter (the only winner of the Triple Crown, O2S, Chequamegon and Iceman). Mike soloed from about mile 5 to hold off all chasers for the 48 mile race. Riding his team Quiring Ti 29er frame with a custom team steel rigid fork Mike attacked the race the whole way not letting up till he crossed the line #1. Jason Lummis followed in at 18th also riding his Steel 29er rigid. John Meyers, Scott Quiring and Joberon Brewchampski all had mechanical flats and or crashes and or both and finished the race with their heads up. Mechanical problems where all over this course as almost 2000 racers hit the dirt at full speed. A special thanks goes out to Kelly the Oakley rep who hooked us up with pairs of Hincape special Oakley racing glasses with a transition lens that are incredible. Changing conditions from sun to shade usually cause shadow problems or eye adjustment issues. Not with the transition lens, it changed just as fast and the styling kept our eyes free from the rampant dust from the dry course. THANKS OAKLEY !!!!!! The Adidas cycling shorts also helped Mike win the race with the plush yet comfortable padding. BELLS BREWERY OBERONS flew down after the dry race as team members awaited the awards show, tasty summer brew after a tasty dry summer race Perfect...... Next race PLRA XC (MI NORBA)

BIG M XC MI NORBA series

The Simonster, Joberon and Jason Lummis attended the Big M XC race in Wellston MI at the Manistee National Forest. With 10+ starters in the Elite field The Simonster took start and never looked back. Joberon and Lummis hung for most the race in the 6th and 7th spots riding and chatting about how cool it would be to be as fast as the Monster. NEXT RACE IS ORE to SHORE . Simonster report below:

Finally we got a break from the ridiculous hot weather we have had this summer and it was just in time for the Big M XC race, a perfect tune-up race for the Ore to Shore next weekend. The course was right up my alley with long straight sections followed by long gradual climbs. I can't ever really remember even using my brakes all that much. Robert started the race, and I found myself getting clipped right in while getting the whole shot. I was trying out a new pair of super light 29er tires from Stans called The Crow and they proved to be the hot ticket for the conditions. I just put it down as hard as I could off the start and found myself all alone after about half a lap. I could see Christian Tanguy lingering behind, but he lost contact by the end of the first lap. From then on, my lead grew each lap and I rolled in on lap 5 with the 8th win of the season.

JOBERON's weekend in review--------

(www.luv2mtb.com) photo star


Like Simonster I rolled with "The Double" race weekend. Same races except I was in the CAT3 group at the Maillot Jaune event. My second road race of the year. Besides some of the pavement being in tatters I have to say it was a great venue. The announcer was even speaking French for this very international crowd. Michigan, Ohio and...Ontario:) Like Mike, I was the only Bells Brew/Quiring Cycle rider in my group. I was hoping Lummis would join me in some road racing shenanigans but he and his lovely wife were at breast feeding training. Stay tuned for his report on that. I tried my hardest to get a breakaway brewing for most of the race. On the last lap I put a gap on the group and was sailing off on a solo breakaway. After a few minutes of killing myself I thought maybe I was in luck. Well, I thought wrong. One of the teams just pegged it and reeled me right back in. Almost immediately after that a rider from the West Coast team attacked and the group started to blow apart. I lost contact with a group of 8 or so guys and was dangling a ways back with 5 or 6 others. Of course most of them were representing others up the road so it was pretty much up to me to bring em' back. Once that job was done two more riders attacked with just a few miles to go. I worked my tail off to bridge. I though we had it. I was in the front coming into town and seemed to be hurting the other two guys. Unfortunately that group of 8 guys weren't too far back from them. They got us just before the line and I ended with 8th place and a heck of a workout. Sunday I was off to the Tailwinds Stony Creek Time Trial. I had no idea how I'd be feeling after racing the previous day. I warmed up for a bit then headed over to the start line. I thought I was the last guy to take off until The Simonster rolled up behind me. GREAT!~ I took off as hard as I could and tried not to think about the vicious beast that would be boring down on my shortly. Yes, he did eventually catch me but this time it just seemed to take a tad longer. Shortly after I caught a rider that had started ahead me. Then another. Realizing I was feeling pretty good I tried to hold my pace to the finish. Then...endo. I hit a log and face planted in the mud. I popped right back up and ran the next couple of muddy, wet, log sections. With a mile or so to go I put my head down, enjoyed the nice grass section of the course and pushed on to the finish. I ended in 5th place. My best Michigan MTB result this year. I was pretty happy. And you know what...it was all done on my super sweet pimpin' chick magnet QUIRING...TWENTY SIX INCH bike.

Stony CreeK and Fenton Road race DBL weekend

Scott Quiring Stony Creek TT (www.luv2mtb.com) photo star


The Simonster takes the win and Stony Creek, flats out of Fenton RR (not before putting the hammer down from the start and making people hurt). Mike checks in below with his weekend summary !
Doing The Double race weekend always proves to be quite a challenge. This past weekend was a perfect time to do it as there was a local road race in Fenton followed by a mountain bike time trial at Stoney Creek in which my house is conveniently located smack dab in the middle of both. The road race started out good. I created a 4 man break right off the line which lasted almost the first lap. I figured with all the hills in Fenton, that a break would succeed, but that proved not to be the case. Small groups formed off the front several times in which I bridged to on almost every occasion, but the cards were just not in the deck for me. Heading into the last lap I heard the dreaded pssst, I had flatted on a section of Michigan Pave and that was the end of my race. I thought it was a great course and well worth the 35 bucks just to get some insane training miles. (. I hadn't even thought about doing the Stoney TT on Sunday. The plan was to meet up with my training buddy Robert and ride after the race. I started from my house at 9AM and thought I would take a longer route and show up at 11AM. Then I thought,.. I'll go watch some of the TT. On my way in, I realized I could get there before 10AM! So I arrived exactly at 10, got my timing chip and basically rolled through the start tent and I was off. I ran a rigid bike with aerodynamic Kryseriums and super light 42c Ritchey CX tires. It was a bit bumpy, but the bike screamed on the two track and the climbs. The huge log on the last creek crossing at the end took me by surprise! Somehow I ended up on back in the muck. It was kind of a nice cool off though. Much to my amazement, I ended up winning the time trial by a scant 3 seconds! Robert rode with me back to my house and I ended up with about 3 hours on the day. Good weekend of training and preparation for the upcoming Ore to Shore, the first round of the growing Triple Crown series.