Single Track Sunday- International Intergalactic Global Open MTB Relay

Single Track Sunday

Place: The International Intergalactic Global Open MTB Relay of the Multiverse (aka Team Relay Race), Marysville, PA
Ridden: April 2014

This week we traveled to Marysville for the team relay. As noted above, this race has an extremely long and complicated name, but to summarize it is a relay race.  Teams can be four, three, or two person; co-ed or all the same sex; and even solo racers can compete.

This race is not about who can go the fastest; the organizer Mike Kuhn has a complicated handicap system to even out the playing field.  It is anyone's guess who the winners are until they are

announced.

                                                                                                          Giant Northeast was represented by three teams this year. Team Anthem was made up of Andy, Jordan, Ryan and myself.  Joël, Wendi, Levi, and Jamie made up Team Maestro.  Team Trance was Jed, Mike, and April.                                                                                                                                                                          Laps were about 3 miles each.  The course can be described as muddy, twisty, and slippery; all that with tons of logs to ride over.  Besides a few short and steep descents/climbs, not really much overall elevation change.  Rain all week and overcast conditions made for a chill in the air. Bundling up in layers between laps was necessary to stay warm; or some people like Jordan and Ryan were smart enough to bring hometrainers to spin on to keep from getting cold.  Each lap was taking the average rider somewhere around 20 to 30 minutes to complete.

The relay is just as much about going fast as it is hanging out with friends. This was the first time

many of us on the 2014 Giant Northeast team were getting to meet, so introductions were made and we all got to know our team mates.  Joël and I spent a fair amount of time also hanging around with our friends at Team Saucon Valley Bikes.  Many fellow racers whom we had not seen all winter were at the relay, so it was also time to catch-up with them.  All in all a fun day on the bike and a fun day with friends!

As for results...at the time of writing this results have not yet been released.  Every team member put in an awesome effort to get some fast lap times; but with the handicap system fast does not always mean top placing.  All I can tell you result wise is that Giant Northeast was not in the top three because we were not called to the podium. However, a huge congrats goes out to Team Old and In the Way from Saucon Valley Bikes for their second place finish. Way to go guys!  Once results are available they will be posted here.

Note- photo credit for the two individual photos of each of us goes to Abe Landis- his photos are awesome!

-Jess

Just click on the video to play