Leadout Racing » Geoff

Fort Custer Stampede (Beginner 11-14) 2nd Place

Leadout Racing — Tue, 04 May 2010 21:16:24 +0000

While I was preparing for the race my sister (Kiersen) rammed into my deraileur. This caused a huge problem that I would find out about later in the day. As the waves before me were taking off I was talking to the other racers in my group about how the race could be won by the sprint at the beginning. At the start, me and a 13 year old took off and the race was going to be between him and I as we dropped the other racers right away. For the first half of the race we stayed right together. He was fast on the downhills, but I was able to catch up on the up hills. When we entered the amusement park I found out that my sister had wrecked my derailleur and I dropped my chain. I quickly got my chain back on, but by then the other kid was gone. I was far enough ahead that the other kids never caught me and for the rest of the race I was by myself except for a few adults. I pushed as hard as I could for the rest of the race, but was never able to catch the other kid. I finished with a time of 52:50 and in 2nd place. After I finished I found the other kid and congratulated him on his win. I look forward to more racing at Hanson Hills and once more I would like to thank Geoff for helping push me to do my best.
Keegan

Yankee Springs TT (Beginner 11-14)

Leadout Racing — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 00:41:59 +0000

Going into the race I didn’t think I was going to do so well with 14 year olds in my group. I started the race and I was doing better than I expected. Maybe because Geoff was following me and he said he would run me over if I used my brakes. During the race I passed many adults and some kids in my age group. At one point I was chasing someone down and in a sandpit they wiped out in front me and I had to walk around them. I had to run up 3 hills and walked zero. Near the end of the race I was feeling like giving in, but I didn’t because I really wanted to beat Billy for the first time. As the finish was getting closer I picked up the pace even more, pushing myself harder than I have before. I ended up crossing the finish line with a time of 1:19:53 and in 4th place. I was amazed at how well I did and had improved on last years time by over 25 minutes. Geoff kept me going through the whole race and I have to thank him for my improvement. I hope he can go with me at Fort Custer.

Keegan

Superior Bike Fest Pics

Leadout Racing — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:33:35 +0000

Some photos from the 2009 Superior Bike Fest, Cat. 3.

Tour of Kensington Valley(Cat 3)

Leadout Racing — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 03:15:56 +0000

The cat. 3 race was a great race for the team as far as turnout and results. Chad, Peter, Nick, Mark, and myself all lined up. We had joked about sprinting off the start line and discussed making the race hard by attacking early and often, but had decided we would wait until the field at least sorted itself out a little and we got part way through the first lap before we tried anything, and then Nick and I had planned to cover and counterattack moves to keep the pace up. After all this was a 66 mile race and we didn’t want to go out to hard. Things didn’t go exactly as planned as 1/2 a mile in Adam York, a friend from the MCG team and fellow mtb’er, decided to attack on the first little rise and I decided it would be a good excuse to stretch my legs and see how they felt. The field assumed we would want to return and rode tempo while Adam and I decided to test them. As the laps ticked by we kept taking strong pulls as our gap hovered around 2.5 minutes. Going into the second to last lap we suddenly had another 2 minutes and knew we were staying away. Expecting a slower race that I could sit in during, I had 2 bottles and no one for bottle handups, a very costly mistake as I started to battle cramps, although could roll through them without to much of a problem. Going into the last lap I had a little bit of water that I had bummed off Adam, who was smart enough to have someone handing up bottles. We cruised the last lap having decided to settle the race on the hills in the last kilometer and a half. I rolled to the base of the last big hill in front rolled off latched onto Adam’s wheel and quickly stood up to attack and instantly cramped. Realizing my situation Adam skipped a pedal stroke wished me luck and cruised to the win by 10 seconds. It turns out that while I was enjoying myself on a nice cruise of the front the team was making a serious nuisance of themselves back in the field. I had several riders talk about how they blanketed every attack and frustrated any group that tried to get something started. They were the real reason Adam and I stayed away and I owe them big time for the result. Near the end Nick latched onto the wheel of Mac Brennan and the two of them rolled in ahead of the field with Nick taking 4th. Of course as the field rolled in Peter ruled the roost taking the sprint ahead of the usual cast of characters, and Chad rolled in just out of the top 10 making some awesome facial expressions. With 3 guys in the top 5 we had a great day, left with some “Money in dah bank”, and stopped at Quiznos on the way home.

GBK

Waterford and Runway

Leadout Racing — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:42:38 +0000

I managed to snag the rare Saturday off of work this past weekend and decided the best way to spend it would be to get a few spring training races in. With Saturday and Sunday events on the east side of the state I loaded up the car headed to Ann Arbor after work on Friday. Saturday morning brought sunny skies, but an otherwise chilly and windy morning. The Waterford race track is roughly a 1.5 mile course with a fair amount of twists and turns and a slight rise that isn’t quite a hill. After the opening skirmishes I found myself in a break of 7 that dwindled to 5 by the end of the race. We cut it close but managed to stay away. I unfortunately had cooked myself prior to the sprint and ended up 5th out of the 5 of us that stayed in front of the chase group. I was fortunate enough to meet breakmate and 29er crew teammate Tim Finkel who wrote a race report here. Sunday felt much more like a crit with a .7 mile course and nice little rise to the finish and some fast corners. I was joined by Mark and Blair, although Blair was dressed as a Priority Health rider. There were a lot of fast guys in the field and right from the gun Dan Klein attacked and stayed on the attack for several laps with an ever evolving cast of riders in failed breakaways. I stayed on or off the front for the majority of the race probably working a bit more than I should of. Despite our efforts no breaks stuck, although I did get to spend a few laps in a break with Frankie Andreu. In the end it came down to a bunch sprint with Blair coming in 5th as I almost caught him at the line and ended up 7th, and of course Frankie won. Overall a great weekend of racing and riding.

-GBK