Dirty Dawg...

Damon and I headed out for this race. I signed up last year, but wasn't able to go due to a sick child. I got my redemption this year and EastCoasters put on a great event. This race was highlighted by the awesome temperatures we experienced. When we finally arrived at the race start, the thermometer on the car read 74*, what a huge change from the 100*+ that has been Richmond weather over the past week or so.

Of course, the weather remained in our minds as we unloaded the car. Menacing clouds seemed to be moving over the course. Around lap 3 the rain set in. It would rain on and off for most of the remainder of the race making the course slick in spots with one climb becoming un-ridable for much of the race. My drivetrain and Stijl bike worked flawlessly all day long despite all the mud.

The course was pretty nicely laid out. After hearing some horror stories about the course from last year soon after we arrived, we were treated to a nice mixture of singletrack, doubletrack, and fire roads. In short, there were two screaming fast downhills split with 3 major climbs, with one climb being around 1 mile of the 5.7 miles course. The downhills were awesome and got much faster as the race went on and the lines were established.

Pic to the left is of Damon in the last 100 yards battling for position. Damon, licking his chops waiting for the opportunity to blow by, which he did just before the start/finish.

With all the rain, the course got very muddy with some sections almost swamp like. The bikes, as well as riders, were a mess!!










I finished in first for solo men, although second overall as one singlespeed racer was really flying all day long. I came within a few minutes of him, but just couldn't catch him. Damon had an admirable effort for his first enduro event. He kept spinning the cranks all day long, which is far more then I can say for most of the field.

Battle at Burke Farm

Design Physics Racing wins the day at Burke Farm Battle!

The team had a strong showing on Saturday at Burke Farm.
Joe, David E., Damon, Matt, and myself were on hand to dice up it.




The course was a fun mix of rocky undulating single track, fast flowing buff grass double track, and a mountainous expert section with some awesome rock gardens.

Preriding the course with Joe would pay off well for me once the race started. The mixture of singletrack and double track provided a good opportunity to go out extra hard in the singletrack knowing you could recover (some) in the doubletrack.

Racers had to deal with some angry yellow jackets on the course. I got stung in the lip on the pre-ride and many racers I talked to got stung some where during the race.

The race was well organized and there were a lot of great volunteers helping out. We all got to enjoy pizza, sodas, and some brews.

We had some great results:
- Joe : 1st overall expert (fastest man there)
- Jeff : 1st overall sport men

Damon, David, and Matt finished strong after a throwing down some solid laps on the course.

Hilbert #2...almost like home

It is a nice feeling to pull up to the race course and it feels like home again. That was exactly how the feeling has become at Hilbert. You know just what to expect, and even know the best lines around the trails. Jeff and I were able to sneak out to the trails on Thursday for a quick spin around. This bit of recon really paid off.

The team showed up in full force, as normal with Hilbert races. The podiums were full of Design Physics/ Stijl racers as well with Joe 2nd Expert, Jeff 1st Sport, Sonya 2nd Sport, Nolan 3rd Beginner, and myself 2nd Enduro all hitting the the steps. Full results found here: RunRideRace.











Another great race put on my Mark. Trails could not have been in better condition! Super fast and sticky. Thanks to Sonya for all the pictures.