2014 Baker's Dozen

the Annual Baker's Dozen Mountain Bike Relay Race is a 13 hour, super fun, and fast race that sells out in minutes each year and attracts racers from all over the Midatlantic area and beyond.

This year, meet our team:   Stewart's Sublime Tillmanator Prom consisting of me - aka Tillmanator, Chris Newell aka The Duke of Sublime Athletics Coaching, and last but not least, Mr. Stewart Miley --- we were his prom dates!

We registered for the race at the beginning of the year and have been counting down as the Baker's race approached 4/12.   But of course there are always snaggles in the best of plans.   Stewart, our Prom Captain, had to go "race" train on his mountain bike the weekend before the race and not only bruised his ribs but also developed a severe sinus infection a few days after his "cartwheel" mountain bike wreck which added insult on top of the injury.   2 days before the race, the Duke learned that Cheryl Sornson would be available to race.  Yes, we secured "Churtle the turtle" to step in as a substitute.  

There were 27 co-ed teams registered for Baker's as well as many other 3-person, 2-person and solo categories.   But, we were the only co-ed 3-person team that consisted of two women and one man...and well, we were up to the challenge of posing a "real threat" to all other 3 person co-ed teams.  Game on! 

We were going to Tillmanate the competition.

7:00 - 9:00 - Arrival and Race prep
Thanks to Joe, Patrick, Angela, Theresa, Wrona, Ethan and Bob for staking out a super cool spot for our base camp compound.   We were parked in the perfect place in my opinion.  Thanks team!

Joe's Bike Shop Racing Team Base Camp

The Race: Basically it went something like this and then rinsed and repeated for over 13 hours

The Duke rolling down the rocks

• Cheryl starts in first position and does what she does best --- races her arse off (with lap times that rivaled the best among the men)
• Chris the Duke is up next and he awaits Cheryl's arrival in our base camp staging area.  When Cheryl arrive, I take her band and fasten it to Chris's bar and he's off.
• Chris proceeds to race his arse off pushing his new Superfly to its limits 
• In the meantime, Cheryl rests which generally means a cool down on the bike and nutrition...



Tillmanator in the Pines (thanks Gary Ryan Photography!)

• Before you know it, it's time for me to stage.  Chris arrives, Cheryl fastens the band to my bar and I'm off.

Cheryl hopping up the rock ledge

Cheryl taking the rock section fast

Tillman #2

We raced at our limit and beyond.  Panting, yes, more often it felt like gasping.   We all suffered.  We all suffered beyond our normal suffering limits as we knew our teammates were fighting as hard as they could out on the race course, leaving it all  out there.   We wanted to win.  We wanted to set each other up for each subsequent lap.  We wanted to Tillmanate the competition.

and, we did!

Mid Afternoon Photo Break (Me, Angela VavaVROOM, and Sheehan)

During the day, we enjoyed the awesome atmosphere of our base camp.  We lounged around. 
We recapped our laps.
We had Joe in the mix, yeah!
We told each other to eat and drink.
We stretched.
We smiled, we smiled a lot.
We cheered all our teammates as they raced around base camp.
We helped each other get ready.
We made sure lights were working right for night laps.
We wrenched on bikes.
but most importantly, we had a freaking blast.



Many of the Joe's teams rocked it this past Sunday. 

We had a 3-person male team take 2nd....
We had a 2-person co-ed duo team take 3rd...
And last but not least, Stewart's Sublime Tillmanator Prom with Churtle the Turtle took 1st in the co-ed 3-person team.

It was a great day.  Baker's, we'll see you again next year.