Big fun at the 24 hours of Boyne Mountain

Howdy all!
It was and Awesome biking weekend at the 24 hours of Boyne the past 4 days. I just got home a little while ago so this is just a short note. More details and photos to come this week. Our 4 man pro team took 2nd with 32 laps behind the Simonson, Quiring, Gadard, Kuhn all star team and our 4 man vet team took 2nd with 29 laps. Also our Kona rep Dale Plant came to Michigan from Washington State to win the 40 plus solo class and throw down more laps then anyone. He did 22 laps on the 9 mile course on a prototype 29 inch wheeled singlespeed. Dude is and animal! Konas Todd Scott won the singlespeed class with 19 laps. Thanks to Terry Ritter for stepping up and helping take Jamies spot so we could still have 2 teams at the race. Thanks to our support people Katie, Megan and of course Bill. Damn was he on the ball with fixing bikes and keeping them running smooth. It was like having a new bike every lap. We had some rain, some mud, some sun, some super fast singletrack after it dried, some crashes, some monkey butt, some stomach aches and great memories!
Bryan

Team Gears up for 24 hour race after successful weekend at PLRA

The team had an awesome weekend racing at the PLRA time trial. Though our thoughts were with our teammate Jamie who crashed hard during the Kensington Road race the team rocked out some great results. PLRA is the fastest and most flowy course on the circuit. It is also the teams home course so we have been practicing out there to get the lines right the last couple weeks. We had 3 podiums with 2 in the expert classes & 1 in the elite field. Justin D was also banging down the door on the podium of the elite class. We also showed off though briefly because of the rain some artwork our sponsor did for us. Again there was grilling and fun even though it was tight trying to get everyone under 1 10x10 EZ Up. We are trying to get another one this weekend.

The plan for Boyne is a little bit up in the air because of Jamie. We are waiting to see how quickly he recovers before we firm up the team selection for the weekend. Regardless we are going and will be up there Friday night at Boyne Mountain and staying through Monday morning. If I have any strength at all I will try to get a couple DH runs with Bryan.

Later,
-C-

Well wishes for Jamie

Hey everyone, if you didn't know, Jamie was mixed up in a big crash at the Kensignton Metro Park Road race on Saturday with a bunch of other racers. He got banged up some but will be ok. Crispy talked to him today and he is sore, chilling at home but doing ok, considering. Take it easy dude and we are thinking about you.
Hey, Dan took another win today while at the Pontiac TT. We also had Peter finsh 5th and Justin 6th in the Elite class. See everyone at the 24 Hours of Boyne. Oh and Crispy took 13th ahead of our buddy Terry Ritter :). Sorry T!
Bryan

Howdy readers

Figured I'd take the initiative and give an update on team activities as there hasn't been a post in quite a long time. What's up with that the rest of you slackers? Anyways, the season is coming along rather nicely. We've been getting some nice race results and lots of good feedback from the racing and riding community on our team and our rigs. We're heading into quite a packed schedule the next couple of weeks. This weekend, the team is going to be spread out all over the place. On Saturday, part of the Kona Midwest crew will hit the road circuit at the Kensington road race. Hopefully our guys will surprise the roadies and show some climbing prowess. We know those hills rather intimately as they compromise our weekly "Pain-Train" ride on Tuesday evenings. Saturday also brings the Addison Oaks Spring XC. From what I can gather, I'll be the sole KMR representative there, so I'm hoping to put in a good showing. I'm looking forward to seeing how the course is laid out this year, as it changes everytime I've raced it. Sunday should bring the whole team together at the Pontiac Lake TT. The team has been pre-riding the course the past week and having a blast. Personally I haven't been out there since 2003, and quickly realized how much I miss and love that trail. It should be a really fun weekend. A short rest and recovery period then brings us to the 24Hours of Boyne over Memorial Day weekend. We'll be putting two 4-Man teams together for this event and are pretty excited. Look for us and stop to say hi.

Well that's a short update for now. Hope to see you all out the next coming weekends. Happy riding and thanks for checking in.

-Pete

T.K Lawless NORBA event

The course was longer this year, which added a few more leg burner hills from what I remember that last time I raced there. My first SS race and what fun it was! I think that was the most exciting part of the day! Well except for Crispy catching and passing me oh, and my great words of encouragement for him! I think they were “Damn it Chris!” But in TT race and you caught terms, it actually meant, great job and keep-it-up!
I pre-rode the course and it was very slick in a lot of corners, but by the time I started the course was starting to dry-out, which made it a little faster. While at the start Chris was part of the next group behind me, I pointed to the gears that the guy next to me was starting in and then pointed to mine. Crispy smiled and said “yeah”! I turned around to the front and noticed I forgot to put a water bottle in the cage, then 3 seconds later the guy said GO! All I could think about was the half-bottle I drank when I pre-rode and the other half I drank before the race. I wasn’t happy! After about 6 miles or so I started to forget about the bottle since I didn’t have a choice anymore. But how hard it is to eat a GU when you don’t have anything to chase it with!
About 40mins after I finished my geared race I started single speed. I was very nervous! I felt like I was at Brighton waiting to start at my first MTB race. All I wanted to do was make up all the hills and finish, which I though was a good goal for my first single speed race and second time riding a SS. The race went very good! I finished and behind 2 very respectable single speeders, made up all the hills and even passed a few people on the longer hills! I though I was done hitting my shoulders on trees, but the wide handlebars and trying to keep speed in the corners helped to change that! But it was fun and I plan on race in the SS class more often. By the way, thanks Pete for letting me borrow that bike! I guess I can say you helped Kona sell another SS! I’m going to put my order in today!