18 hrs. of domination

This past Saturday was the 18 Hours on the Farm race for BFR. And as you can probably tell from the title, we destroyed the competition.

El capitan (shawn) successfully defended his title against some of the best riders in the region without having any clue he was leading until the wee hours of the morning and also stopping for 40 minutes to put some poor bastard's face back together. Our men's duo team of Dave and Ken placed first in their category and 2nd overall (only minutes behind a FOUR person team) with 22 laps. I think they had the fastest lap time as well with 42 minutes. Dave slowed down to a 50 minute lap at one point to cut down a rubber chicken for another pair of socks and stare at some full moon. Ok, if you're reading this and you weren't there, that sounded bad, but it's all true I promise. Kev29er got fifth in the duo category even after a seven hour "nap" and his partner leaving after two laps (hope you're feeling better, Jeremy). On the ladies side of things, our duo of D and Christy "99 bottles of beer on the wall" Tankersly was moved from their category due to lack of participants to our category (4 person team) and put our team of Esther, Michele, Kateri, and myself in second which we're calling first in the 4 person category. :)

And the weekend yielded plenty of firsts for this little mountain biker wannabe: first team mtb race, first night ride, first time eating brownies wrapped in pp&j, first time on a dual suspension (like riding a pillow cushion), first blow up doll attack, first time placing in a race, first time falling off a bridge, first time being chased by rabid dogs (I swear, they were right behind me), etc.

Thanks to our awesome pit crew of Jason, Caleb, Papa T., and John Cox. You guys were amazing. Caleb, I apologize in advance for the endless amounts of ridicule you're going to receive for the sleeping position you chose. Seriously though, how did you breathe? Huge thanks also to Denelle for doing the majority of the site clean-up afterwards and to Ted Shred and Liz for the much needed rides home. And I'm just going to go ahead and give the mini Tankersly sammies their own little shout out: who ever threw you in the trash should be shot, you are amazing.

The dust was horrible, I've got too many bug bites to count, and the bruises on my legs have people asking how my relationship with Dave is going these days... I can't wait for next year. Going mushy here so prep yourself: most of the running races I do are solo and I usually love getting things done on my own. That being said, I've been "on" this team for over a year but only toed a starting line once and have yet to feel like I've really been part of it enough to proudly wear the jersey. This weekend changed all that. Having a team like this behind you showing you how to jump a log, or fixing your bike, or cheering you on at 4am is an overwhelming thing and one that gave this particular newbie not only the idea that she could accomplish something like this, but the ability to have an absolute blast doing so. Placing second on a 4 person team isn't much to some but it's huge to me and I couldn't have done it without them. I wonder how some people do.

Congrats again BFR, you (ahem, we) ROCK!