6 hours of Stony Creek (Eric Patterson)

The 6/12 hours of Stony Creek is the opener in Michigan for the Endurance Series put on by Fun Promotions. A few months back, Ben decided this was going to his first endurance race of the season. The 6 hour option would be a good trial run for the longer races and I told him back then that I would do it with him or at least be his pit crew. Since then, Chris and I have been working at the 100 miler races; so we decided to use the 6 hour race as a training run and enjoyable time in the Michigan woods.

A few weeks before the race I decided to try my Niner on a longer race. Of course, I wasn't going to run it fully rigid so I started to ask around for a fork to borrow for the race. Since I couldn't come up with one for that weekend I ended up going to Freewheeler and coming home with a Reba. A few days before the race I installed the fork and tried to work out the bugs in the drivetrain. Ben and I decided on meeting up around 7 am and loading all our stuff into the car and heading straight to the race. Chris was going to be coming in a little late since he just got done with graduation the day before. The team got a bonus this race because both Rachel and Kristen said they were going to come and be our support crew.

Our car was lucky enough to have Rachel as our navigator. She grew up in the area and told us how to get there faster then taking some of the Google recommended routes. This was a bonus until we ended up going down some dirt road with craters that almost bottomed out my car. Luckily the road was only a mile long. Regardless, after a group meeting we skipped this route on the way home. As we found our way into the parking lot, the 12 hour racers had already been on course 3 hours. We grabbed an open spot on the trail to setup. An hour or so after we got there Chris and Kristen showed up, so we swapped out the vehicles and helped him get ready.

The 6 hour start time came soon enough, so we made our way to the staging area. As we sat there in line, looking around to catch any familiar faces, we spot Danielle Musto. Danielle was a few riders in front of us. We joked around with her until she fired back why we weren't at the front so we could get the hole shot. The hole shot! I respond. I wasn't aware we needed to be concerned about the hole shot in a 6 hr race. We just said we were going to be fine, we left the holeshot up to her. As the announcer told us to go, our plan of sticking together got a little tangled in all the people. Chris got a few riders in front of Ben and I, so Ben and I stuck it out together for the first single track and then caught back up to Chris in the two-track section. I filed in behind Chris for this section and once we hit the single track again we had lost Ben. We had clear trail in front of us at this point so we just settled into a good pace until we caught the next group of riders. Low and behold there was Musto in the front of the group. There was a group of five or six riders so we just settled on the back and started to spark up conversation with everyone. Again, we hit a two-track section so Chris and I took off again only this time I took the front. Chris and I made a decision to trade off lead based on the switching of the course from single track to two track or until one of us (me) got too tired. It seemed like I was doing well, my heart rate was coming back down to a good average and the legs were warming up for a long ride in front of me. Chris and I kept with each other until the 4 hour mark were we would have to drop 10 minutes off of our pace to make 3 laps before the cut off time. I knew I couldn't pick up my pace that much so Chris slowly disappeared in front of me and I was riding by myself.

That was my hardest lap, I was starting to feel drained and just couldn't put the power down on the climbs. I made it to the pit area and grabbed some solid food and heard the announcer say we had one hour before the cut off. I threw a bar in my pocket and jumped on my bike since my laps were running close to high 50's at this point and if I wanted to make the cut-off for a “bonus” lap I would have to be through in under 60 minutes. The whole way around that lap I was having an internal battle. Do I slow up and miss the cut-off to be done, or do I push harder to make sure I get in for that bonus lap? It was decided to push it out since I didn't really know what position I was in or where any of my competitors were, but I also think a “bonus” lap is not the proper term. Who decided that a gift or bonus is doing another lap when you have been riding for 6 hours already? I made it back to the pits with 3 minutes to spare and not only did I get to see the lovely faces of Rachel and Kristen, but Mom and Dad had showed up too. I remember telling them hi while grabbing a bar for my pocket since the food was helping my power come back and dad telling me to quit talking since I had a race to do. Thanks dad. I jumped back on my bike and headed out for my last lap of the day.

As I was climbing the first climb I saw the American Cycle guys who I kept catching a glimpse of for the past 6 hours and they were lolly gagging up the climb. I wasn't sure if these guys were in my age group but I put a little heat into the pedal to pass them and keep going up the climb. As soon as I hit the single track they were on my wheel, I assume they must of thought the same thing as me and decided to catch back up to me as I passed them. All through the single track I kept hearing them right on my tail so I started to slow up. They finally went around me right before the two track opens up and I picked up behind them for a few miles but lost them after the half point in the trail. It didn't seem they were all that hurt so I felt I gave it a good shot but they were more fit and deserved the place. A few miles from the finish I see a D2 Racing jersey and could only think something happened to Chris. As I get closer I notice it is Ben and he is trying to do something on his bike. I stop and help him out while he tells me that we are suppose to be done in 20 minutes for the lap to count. I said, WHAT? He thought he heard that you had to be done by 8:30 pm for the last lap to count and that I needed to get going. I made sure he was ok and promptly got on my bike. I knew it was going to be close so I tried to sprint the entire rest of the way, out of my saddle on every climb and rocking the down hills with some drifting in the corners. As I hit the last little bit of downhill singletrack into the finish I see Rachel on the side but didn't have my breath to say hello. I rolled through the finish and caught my breath where I asked about this 8:30 pm rule and they told me that it is not true. Oh man, well at least I made some time up and can only thank Ben for that motivation.

The day ended up with Chris getting 2nd, I came in 3rd, and Ben finished out 5th. Not bad to have three of the top 5 positions going to our team. As we are getting packed up we had some time to talk to mom and dad and see our dogs. The night ended with some Subway with everyone and then a long drive back home. We got lucky to have Rachel take the wheel and drive us all the way home. She told me she had fun and didn't know were the time went. I knew from helping Chris last year that being the pit crew person is a full time job and it was awesome to have Rachel and Kristen help out the whole team.