What a rush! The 6 Hours of El Lagarto was an awesome endurance mountain bike race. My parents surprised me with a Niner Air RDO complete with the SID XX WC fork! Awesome bike and I was so thrilled to have it and couldn't wait to ride it. Thanks to all the guys at LeRoy's BikeWorks for getting the bike finished just in time for the race. Was excited, but a little nervous to ride a new bike for the first time during an endurance race. The 6 Hour El Lagarto was my very first race last year and I placed 4th, so this year I was working hard toward a first place finish. Each lap was 7 miles for the Corporate Course. Knowing that there were some areas on the course that would jam bikers up my plan was to jump out in front and pull off from the group at race pace until we passed one of the more technical climbs. The race started off with a sack hop race and I was third out behind Cody Burnett and Zach Fout, who were both racing Corporate Beginner Men. Since I had such a big lead from the start I didn't need to go at race pace right from get go. I hung behind Cody and Zach. Heading in to scoring after the first lap I saw another racer in my group fly by me. I was not expecting that. Right after him one of my LeRoy's/CycleYouth teammates, Jordon Karras, who was racing against me, flew by. Even though I was a little nervous and really wanted to chase them, I also knew that I needed to hold back and pace myself. I caught them both on the third lap and rode behind them for a full lap. During a particularly hard climb I passed the second place rider and set in to my endurance race pace. This let me open up the gap between me and the other riders. I only had to get ahead of one racer to lead. I felt really good with a strong pace thanks to forcing myself to drink one bottle per lap of Perpetuem and eating each time I rode by my feeding zone.
Then the unexpected happened! Heading into my 5th lap I was at the feeding zone and Coach Chris Burnett and LeRoy Manninen demanded I get off my bike and get on a Scott Spark 29er. I was told not to ask any questions and to slow down my pace because I had opened a considerably large gap and was in the first place position. I didn't know why they were pulling me off my Niner, but all I could think of was the worst. Turns out there was a minor mechanical that they had noticed on the lap before that needed to be fixed pronto. It was weird riding a different bike after just getting used to my new one. But the lap went by quickly and my bike was ready when I made it through scoring to start my 6th lap. I continued my pace, but apparently my coach still thought I was going too fast and might burn out quickly. Coach Chris was on his own three man race team (with my dad) and decided to ride behind me during his lap so that he could coach me to take it easy. The next few hours went by quickly and I saw a change in riders. They were either picking up the pace or dropping out of the race. As I finished my 8th lap and going through scoring I was told I had 45 minutes until cut off. Now I knew I needed to kick it into high gear so that I could make cutoff and get in the extra lap. I managed to make cutoff by 15 minutes! My last lap, #10, I was dead tired and forced myself to finish. I reached my goal of 70 miles and a first place finish!
Congratulations to my teammates who also placed on the podium. Cody Burnett - 15 years old - 1st place Beginner Men Solo; Jordon Karras - 2nd place Junior Solo; Jarod Coker - 3rd place Junior Solo. Also a big congratulations to Team Old FARTS - (my dad, Chris Burnett, and Charlie Gilbert) - 4th place Corporate Team; and my brother's team (Morgan, Bryce Kovi, and Ethan Audette) - 5th place Corporate Team. Congratulations to Drew Edsall - 1st place Red Solo; and Zach Fout 2nd place Begginer Men Solo. A special thanks to Coach Drew Edsall from the Kenda/Felt Team for all his coaching and guidance and Jeff Adams for training with me and providing lots of encouragement.
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| Dropping in to Cruddy Buddy |
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| LeRoy's/CycleYouth Solo Racers - Cody Burnett, Jordon Karras, Jarod Coker, Samuel Connell |
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| Riding down Puff N Stuff |
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Me and my dad strategizing
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