[yater]

Was yesterday at the "Dirty Dozen" in warda, Tx. We entered in the 4 person open class. There was no elite/pro class so there were a few FAST teams in the mix.

Long day

We ended up on the podium with a 3rd place finish

The pics don't tell the whole story. We felt we had a solid 5th place finish locked in at the 8 hour mark (barring mechanicals)...we were 16 minutes up on 6th place team and 7 minutes (and gaining) behind 4th. We watched as the 4th place team started to rotate their two faster riders in an attempt to catch 3rd (or hold us off?). After a few laps of this, they DNFd and were out. We were about 10 minutes behind 3rd place and had a solid hold on 4th (19 minutes). We watched the 3rd place team make a few blunders in the pits as we slowly reeled them in. We started the last lap 5 minutes back and somehow gained about 9 minutes on them in one lap (maybe a mix of night riding and blow up slowed them down?). Anyway, we finished WAY behind two elite teams for a solid 3rd place out of 17 teams + a few DNFs

 

[santacruzer]

Congratulations on a good finish, sounds like a fun time. A lot of races end up being decided at night. Folks are tired and start making bad decisions or slow way down in the dark. I'm sure this won't be your last one.
I thought about doing that race, it looks like it might have been a little on the chilly side. We are doing this one in Hot Springs AR on March 11, you should give it a try.
http://www.dltmultisport.com/Spa_City_MTB/

 

[bmay]

How do you like the anthem for endurance events? I'm considering it to replace my dakar expert eventually.

 

[yater]

How do you like the anthem for endurance events? I'm considering it to replace my dakar expert eventually.

The anthem is a sweet bike. I replaced the stem, bars, and seatpost and swapped the fox fork out for my old reba team (just a preference)....but I raced the bike the day I bought it and it was fine right out of the box. Once you've dialed it in, it's a great ride and it's reasonably light. I also have a custom stem cap...lol:

 

[the toninator]

Hey congratulations. I know the guys on the first and second place teams and they are all super fast! There were several experts and a semi-pro in their ranks. So y’all did well!

 

[yater]

Hey congratulations. I know the guys on the first and second place teams and they are all super fast! There were several experts and a semi-pro in their ranks. So y'all did well!

Yeah we knew we were outmatched going into the race so our goal was to podium. Those guys on winkleman's (sp?) team were running sub 32min laps every time. Our fastest was 33...so they were in another league. We had a blast mixing it up with the other 4 or 5 teams in contention though.