For those of you who don't know, Granite Man is Southern Oregon's local off-road triathlon. Earlier in the year I was looking forward to challenging the course record. That all went out the window when I went over the bars a few weeks ago and ended up with three fractured bones. The first week after my crash I was a little down because I thought I was going to miss the race. Though, a friend of mine was over talking about mountain bike racing and it just clicked, RELAY. Sure it's not the same as doing it all yourself but heck, with the state I was in I would take anything if it meant I could race. After a little persuading of my friend Zane and a quick call to my fish of a friend Matt (pictured below)
we were . . .
Two and a Half Men!
Matt,Myself and Zane
Zane was worried before the race because he hadn't ever road the course nor the ridiculously fast Grammo Tao I lent him. I decided my bike was what he needed to ride for this course and he said he would give it a shot. We put a little bit of pressure on him by having Matt as our swimmer. We knew Matt was going to be early out of the water, most likely top three. This meant Zane was going to be out in front of 60 plus mountain bikers.
Sure enough Matt came third out of the water doing what he does best and Zane was off. I told him if he saw a white Grammo powered by Ben to tuck on his rear wheel and not let him go.
That was Ben leaving transition 3ish minutes after Zane
Zane went out and road his butt off. There was a 4 to 5 mile stretch where he positioned himself in the lead and was able to hold it. He was later taken over by Mike Thomas, a local stud of a mountain biker riding a single speed. Zane said when he got passed by Mike, he held onto him and only lost a few seconds. He rode behind him for awhile before being over taken by the first solo athlete who was putting a blistering fast race time together. Again, Zane was able to keep Rich Arvizo (the solo athlete) in his sights. I had warned Zane of the one steep climb at the end and told him after that climb it was all downhill. Ben later told me that his Garmin read a 22% incline for part of the climb. Zane said when he started climbing he looked back and Ben with his bright yellow Mavic's was moving in on him fast. This meant Ben had made up 3+ minutes. At this point Rich had left the field and now had a minute lead over everyone. But, in an exciting fashion, Ben, Zane and Mike had a sprint into transition 2. In the picture below Zane is on the left and Ben on the right. You can tell they both gave it all they had!
Zane and Ben right after the mtb ride
All there was left to do was the run. Rich was out on the run around a minute before anyone else. All the guys that came in together were a part of a relay team. My team had put us in a position to win. I took off out of transition slightly earlier than the other two teams and had Rich in my sights. I knew he wasn't a team so passing him just meant we would have the overall first finish. I reeled him in and felt kind of bad because he was working his tail off as a solo athlete. He deserved to be out in front, not a fresh guy like me just doing the run. That feeling only lasted a little bit and I pulled in front of him on the last hill before we hit the single track. I had gone out slightly faster than I wanted but it was so easy to do because the first mile was on the road. As we tucked into the woods I gave a glance over my shoulder and saw I was putting some space between myself and the pack behind me. Now it was my race to lose and there was no way I was letting my team down. I settled into a sustainable pace and the 5 mile run went by like nothing.
I crossed the finish line and the timer read 1 hour 45 minutes and 8 seconds, just 27 seconds ahead of the second place relay team. I'm not sure what the course record for a relay team is but I am certain we were close if not set a new one. Congratulations to Rich, the solo athlete, who crushed the old course record. I'll be looking for him next year. There ended up being 20 relay teams that entered the race so we were all extremely happy with our results. This was my first relay and I have a feeling it won't be my last. It was so much more fun than I thought it was going to be and I got to get out and race with some great friends!
I want to thank Grammo and Standing Stone Brewing Company for their support and another thanks to Grammo for being out at the race. I would also like to thank anyone and everyone who had a hand in putting this race on, especially all of the volunteers. Also I want to thank Leah for taking some awesome pictures. It was a great weekend and a great course!!!
