Brighton Stage Race

Joberon and Jason Lummis attended the Brighton Stage race @ Brighton Rec Area this past weekend. the events where a TT and STXC on Saturday with a XC on sunday.
Joe was 4th on the TT and Jason 7th the STXC had Joe staying in 4th and Jason Moving to 6th. On Sunday Joberon took control of the race from the start and Finished 2nd adn Jason came in 3rd. Joe finished 2nd overall for the stage race and Jason jumped to 3rd. The two teammates rode their custom steel Quiring 29ers with Stans rims with a Geax saguaro front tire and Stans Crow rear.


Team Sandbag video


2nd place!



If you take that 2nd and add it to my last result, 7th, you get 9. A two and a nine. 2. 9. Anyone guess where I'm going with this? Great race conditions and a groovy new Quiring 29er made for an excellentweekend of racing at Brighton Rec. My buddy Keith(Paint Creek Bicycles) and Iassembled the new machine late last week. The bike is fantastic. Scott Quiringbuilt me up a super light steel frame. My first steel MTB and it handles like adream. The paint job screams "lets party" and can actually cause fellow racersto lose focus. Complete with Stans big wheels/tires and a Bell's Oberon beer capatop the stem(Nicely assembled by my Mom. Thanks Mom!) this bike was ready forbattle.This stage race began Saturday with a tight and twisty TT. A perfect test forthe new ride. I managed a 4th place. Besides Christian's(American Cycle andFitness) dominating performance, the times were pretty close. I was happy. Nextup was the short track. Ouch! I had a good start but started feeling it after acouple laps. This may have been the tuffest event of the weekend. I held on for4th. Even with my bonus lap screw up. Sunday was the XC. I didn't know how I'd feel after Saturday's shenanigans. Thestart went well as I led it out for a couple miles. As soon as there was hilland a place to pass, a Frenchman blew by. BAH! I tried to stay with him. I managed to do so for about 5 seconds then began the race for 2nd. I led the chase for most of the 1st lap. Just before the start of lap 2(of 5) MikeAnderson(RBS) made a move a formed a gap. I was left with my teammate Jason andMr. Robert Herriman(American Cycle and Fitness). The three of us worked togetherand tried to keep Mike in our sites and those behind us...behind us. Midway through lap 3 Mike had some bummer luck and punctured. We went by and kept thepace high and avoided mishap. Lap 4 I came around to do some work and Jason and I were able to put a gap on Robert. Jason and I pushed the pace in order to create a cushion. I was still feeling good for the final lap and went off on my fastest lap of the race for 2nd place. This created enough time to take 2nd overall in the stage race. Thank you Tailwind for putting on a super event. And congrats to everyone whoraced. Especially the womans champ:) Thanks to all of the sponsors and of course my family and friends. Have a great long weekend everyone. Beer and Bikes. Bikes and Beer. Either way,enjoy the bonus day off.


Joberon

Photo by Bryan Mitchell

Stage racing.... Fun exciting and close to home. I was able to ride the 5.5 miles to the start of each event from the comfort of my home ! I usually don't really ever make the time to ride at the Brighton rec during my weekly ride/ trainning, but made it 3-4 times just before the race to try and get the feel for the trails. My TT went sos so has I clipped a tree and was sent to the ground, finishing 7th. The STXC was 6 laps (we found this out after doing 1 lap) and 5 -7 guys did and extra lap (with out any penalty, sure is nice to add 4 minutes to your time and have the promoter say no big deal while the racers who actually finished the race with 6 laps did't get any time bonus). Anyway onto the XC race sitting in 6th place overall, the race went well riding with Joberon and Herriman. Joe and I finally dropped Herriman and we had a nice big gap. The 2nd and 3rd place overall guys had some problems, moving Joe and I up in the overall to match our XC finishing spots of 2nd and 3rd. The Elite class had about 18 starters for the XC !

JL

Xterra win at Fort Custer

John Meyers raced the Exterra at Fort Custer this past weekend race report below.


XTERRA LAST STAND
This past sunday I raced and finished FIRST overall in the Xterra last stand biathlon, a 1.8 mile trail run, 12.5 mile off-road bike and 4 mile trail run. This event is part of large grouping of Xterra events nationally and internationally. I had an early week race plan change from the Brighton Stage race so I started thinking about the local Xterra race. I typically run or snowshoe thru the winter and not continue much past February. So having made a quick commitment I decided to get a few running miles in last week or actually just about 5 minutes a day to loosen up. My goal to get out and run a few minutes each day would help with the second bike leg. I was worried that my legs would seize up on me after I jumped of the bike. Well the race course was perfect...I had one minor trail mis-direct but Kevin Biek (red is run, blue is bike got it!) race director extraordinaire escorted me back on to the trail, I finished the bike portion with a consider lead heading into the final 4 mile trail run which allowed me to roll the first mile really easy and then I was able adjust the speed for the remaining 3 miles to finish comfortably ahead of both triathletes and bi-athletes with the victory.

Accomplishments on the day;
1. a victory for the Bells Brewery / Quiring Cycles MTB Team
2. an average speed of over 18.2 mph.


Owasippi MTB TT
I raced the Tailwinds Owasippi 12.5 in Whitehall Michigan and placed 2nd. overall...was going for a victory but it's a little tough having only had ridden the course for the first time prior to the TT. The course was great. Had a lot of fun and had the feel of a true Michigan mountain bike course of the early 90's with over 1,200 feet of climbing in the lap.

MMBA CPS Fort Custer XC

The team meet up at the Fort Custer Rec. area this past sunday for a 4 lap 37 mile XC race. John Meyers Birthday to be excact HAPPY 43rd youngster ! We all lined up against the WSC Team and few other MI Elite racers ! For a beautiful sunny cool day of racing. The Simonster has been out of state racing with the Pros and had a little break in his travels and decided to work on his Single Speed game. Unleashing a 17lb Ti Quiring SS 29er. Rolling away from everyone at the 2 mile mark to never be touched for the BIG "W". Jason Lummis came thru with a great ride for 3rd place. Birth day boy John held it for 6th and Joberon in 7th place. We then headed the 15 miles to Kazoo to the Eccentric cafe for a little festivities and awsome food !

Results:

1. Simonster --Bells

2. Christian Tanguy --WSC

3. Jason Lummis --Bells

4. Dylan Lanspeary

5. Robert Herriman WSC

6. John Meyers --Bells

7. Joberon --Bells

the rest will be up soon !

Joeberon relaxing at the Eccentric Cafe after the race !

Lucky 7
Apparently 7 is the magic number. 7th at Yankee and a 7th at Fort Custer. At
least the number didn't increase I suppose. Can I see a 6! Do I hear 5?!
Hopefully someday soon.
Great day for racing. The Fort was, for many, this years first cross country
event. The whole team made it out and contributed to a good overall day of
results. Many of the usual suspects and some new lined up for a good dose of
competition. With The Simonster and Christian(American Cycle and Fitness) at the
line most of us knew what to expect. Typical of Fort Custer the group was
together for the first mile or two. Once we hit the first significant climb it
was bye bye to Mike and his single speed machine. I was breathing through my
eyeballs when I entered the first bit of signal track. Feeling spent, I bobbled
on a steap tricky climb coming unclipped. I was off the bike and running. As
soon as the trail opened up again I watched as many guys blew by me. I spend
most of that first and second laps(of 4) riding alone. Thankfully Fort Custer is
a long race as my legs eventually came around. Laps 3 and 4 I motored along
picking off riders here and there and attempting to make up time. I was pleased
to see my overall time wasn't too far off of the norm. My norm that is.
Afterwards the team and many of our friends went over to...you guessed it, the
Bells Brewery to recover. The brewery and it's staff helped us all get back on
our feet. Thanks a lot!
Have fun everyone. See ya at the next one.
Joberon

Fort Custer: Some of my friends tell me Custer is a Lummis friendly course ! I guess it maybe true in the past 3 yrs I have finished the XC in 3rd twice and 7th last year, as well as winnig the Time trial last year.

It is a fun course with only 2 little inclines that you can maintain alot of speed into. Some really fast flowing sections mixed in with a few twisty single track areas. At a little over 9 mile laps (we raced 4) they do not become to annoying. The race started off a little crazy as they starter just shot off the gun without any real count down, Dylan was in a track stand and took the whole shot (great by me since we hit an open field with a nice head wind). Herriman, Simonster, Joeberon then myself on the front sitting in until the first good attack spot. Simonster attacked Joberon and I jumped Herriman and sat on 2nd (Dylan) until the Simonster disappeared. Joberon, myself and Herriman scooted by Dylan at the first little incline after a bridge crossing before the 1st real climb. I was feeling great and was smiling to myself, somedays you know when things are coming together with your fitness. Herriman went around Joe just before Grannies Garden to chase Mike. Out of the Garden Joe had bobbled and it was Herriman and I with a small gap. As we came up a small hill/corner to the Aide station it flattend out and Herriman punched and I responded easily and no need to go to the front since my team was ahead ! Herriman's teammate the French Crickett (I use this term as he can fly thru the tight and twisty singletrack like it's an open down hill) Christian Tanguy came rolling thru, I jumped on Christians wheel and we had a gap from Herriman. We entered a section of single track down by a lake ( I believe it is called the amusement park) and The Crickett was off with a mission to track down the Simonster on his SS. I was left bouncing from tree to tree trying to keep smooth. The gap on Herriman was open and I kept my pace as high as I could maintain. Smooth transitions from corner to corner and really opening it up on the flats. I was running my STANS ZTR's with a Stans Crow rear and Geax Saguaro front. Great fast combo the gives you that extra confidence on the dry loose course and at 28 psi they both rolled fast and smooth. For the remaining 3 laps I could see Herriman and my teammate John Meyers back about 30-40 secs at a few check points. Somedays it is hard to hold off these racers at that gap especially when they can see you and you become the rabbitt for the chase. Sunday was a good day as I held them off and a late charge by Dylan Lanspeary. I rolled in in 3rd ! Glad there was no sprint finish as the finish chute was wierd with no actuall line or finish tape!?! Great prize $$ even if we had to pay an extra $10 above the race entry fee to race Elite. Great Job team we had all our teammates in the top 7 out of 14 starters. Next race Brighton Rec Stage race -- this is gonna be interesting with a odd venue for a stage race since the parking is a cross the road from the trail and it has a 2 way single track exit /entry to the trail !