Theron Colucci

 
On May 3rd 2008, Team Rostello racer Theron "TC" Colucci and three other local racers, Bob Kuhn (HUP United), Stephen Jansa and Jim Behning (GTC Racing) got together as "Team Dirty Old Men" to tackle the DirtySpokes 12Hr Relay race at Fort Yargo State Park in GA.  With much discussion before the race, we all decided to go with single speed bikes.  Considering I have not ridden a mountain bike in nearly 12 years and have never gone single speed before, I knew the day was going to be a very new and unique experience!  We all got together around 8:00AM that morning to set up the tent and bike stands and get ready to ride.  The trails at Fort Yargo are very well maintained with a little bit of everything.  All of the course is hardpack dirt and has lots of tight singletrack, short steep climbs, whoops, several long twisty climbs and two sections of powerline road.  The course as set-up was 12.1 miles long and just begs for speed!
 
At 10:00AM the bell rang out for a mass start as 254 racers rolled over the start/finish line for a parade lap and then onto the course. 

Karen Hanson

This is going to be one of those I'm honing my skills posts. (not a "I
suck post as Mike May correctly pointed out that I should take a page
from the pros who never suck... they are honing their skills, or have a
stomach virus, or beri beri or something.)

I am not a climber. I'll never be a climber. Which per James is what my
problem is. Not that I'm not a climber, but that I don't believe that
I'm a climber, and you cant do what you dont believe you cant do. Well,
not exactly. I can climb Wintergreen. I'm just slow as s%@!.

What was fun, in a masochistic way was riding around with James and
Jake, who are both the skinny climber dude body type. Paired up with Tom Richeson on the team who makes Rassmussen look fat, and I was surrounded by skinny climber dudes. Jake was bouncing around feeling the love, Tom was doing that little Tom giggle, and James was busy trying to pull my head out of my @!$.

Brad at Baker’s Dozen Endurance race

Last weekend Dr. Steve Struble, Scott Fortune and I made the trip up to Leesburg for the 2nd Annual Baker’s Dozen Endurance race to represent the Team.  We rode in style since Dr. Steve was able to secure both appropriate lodging and transportation in a 2008 25 ft. RV.  We arrived on Friday evening with enough time to set up our Pit and to take a daylight hot lap before making some dinner and hitting the sack.  The course was very tight, with fast singletrack and no places for recovery or rest.  Just straight all out pedaling with a few rock drop offs and lots of logs and log piles to slow you down in some of the straights.  Saturday morning we woke to a warm, clear day with our pit area now packed with tents, cars and people.  The race was capped at 375 people so it was going to make for interesting conditions on the 7.75 mile race course.

I keep telling everyone that I should get some kind of Mass Start Race Credit for this one because I had 175+ competitors on the line with me when Betsy(owner of the farm) rang the bell for us to start the 13 hour suffer fest at 11am.  My goal with the start was to get as close to the front and stay there to give us a good overall position when the field started to spread itself out.  I was successful in getting myself into the top 3rd of the field as we came through the pits heading into the singletrack.  

Tom Richeson

Below is a personal perspective of how the race unfolded for John Gonyo:

Despite steady rain and poor course conditions.  Many of us were top finishers!

Sonya Gagnon - 1st Beginner Women
Kathleen Herndon - 2nd Beginner Women
Tim Richeson - 1st Expert Men 40+
Paula Smith - 2nd Expert Women
John Gonyo - 1st Singlespeed

My race started at noon after it had been raining most of the morning.  I almost canned the race, but since I was on the singlespeed and was tired of giving my money to RMS for races I didn't attend, I decided to race anyhow.  The Singlespeed class started 2 minutes after the Expert women and 4 minutes after the Expert men (and some confused Sport men who started with the Experts). 

After the on-the-bike start I ended up in the woods in second place.  Almost immediately I threw my prescription glasses into the woods - they were useless.  Good thing I put on my mud fender up front.  Unlike my friend Scott, I had no mud going into my eyes - but I couldn't see the trail that well anyhow so I just hung on for dear life.

Be sure to check out more photos of the the team in the site Gallery!