Hawks Tackle 3-hour at Blue Mound

The Red Hawks took part in their first race event of the 2009 season yesterday. The team and I traveled to Blue Mound State Park to participate in the 3-hour race of the Wisconsin Endurance Mountain Bike Series (WEMS) 12 Hours of Blue Mound.

I told them to treat the race as a long training ride, but of course, they could feel free to be competitive if they thought they could be.

Everyone but Andy Ayers and Tiffany experienced some type of technical difficulties. Despite breaking his chain twice and completing his third lap on one of the Specialized test bikes offered through Erik's Bike Shop, Eric was the top placing male for Ripon. He finished 14th among the field of 24 finishers with three laps in 2 hours 31 minutes and 18 seconds. (Though as I look at the results, I'm not sure how accurate they are.)

Andy A. followed close behind with three laps in just less than two additional minutes.

On his first lap out, Andy Fehrenbach stripped the threads on his left crank arm where his pedal connects. He, too, was forced to saddle up on one of the Specialized steeds to put in a few more laps. Paul had a flat and Zach's saddle came loose.

Tiffany had no major issues and paced herself for two laps to win the women's category. Her efforts (2 laps in 2 hours 9 minutes 56 seconds) earned her a fancy trophy — Ripon Cycling's first!

Everyone seemed to have fun and count the event as good prep for next weekend's season opener at Butler University.

Results