The second running of the Berryman Epic was a wet one. With the river out of its banks and the trails in less than great shape, riders got wet and muddy but the weekend's spirit remained high.
This year the promoters scored a Mueller's beer trailer from the Springfield, MO microbrewery. The BT Epic crew provided tons of prizes and very fairly pulled tickets from a Tour or Race bucket. The winner then pulled out another ticket to see what they won. Cool! - you could end up with Winter Mint Gu or a Garmin GPS unit, it was your call.
The stars were aligned, however, because both Scott Whitaker and Lisa Troehler won two of the three Redline 8-speed d440 29ers being raffled off. The raffle entries were sorted based on sizing so the odds were better for the bikes. Way to go GORC!
Here are some weekend photos from my camera. Unfortunately, I'm missing good photos of Kevin, Steph and myself due to some blurry images.
Here's a link to the race results and below is the list of Tour riders I found online:
First finishers of the Tour are in:
Gerald Hart 6.41.16
Nate Means 6.50.56
Lawrence Colvin 6.54.53
Clinton Chandler 7.13.39
Lonnie Kinkade 7.13.40
Scott Saunders 7.22.26
Jamie Roberts 7.46.27
Bill Turner 8.17.16
Matthew Soraghan 8.17.17
Cynthia Bradley 8.23.47
John LeBlanc 8.24.03
Lorinda Putter 8.24.33
Yuri Cook 8.24.34
James Mercer 8.24.35
Alan Corum 8.28.30
Lisa Longinotti 8.28.31
Jessica Kovarik 8.35.10
Dan Clinkinbeard 8.35.11
Donovan Evans 8.55.23
Jiri Doksansky 8.55.46
Joshua Carroll 8.57.08
Jim Davis 9.03.55
Jeff Mittler 9.03,56
Jeff Foes 9.06.20
As for GORC member racers here's some from the list:
Placement out of 110 finishers or so
12 Mike Barro - Momentum Cycles Racing 5.10.03 (2nd place SS!!!)
20 Larry Koester - GORC 5.30.35 (4th place SS ?!!?)
38 Bryan Adams - GORC 5.58.10
43 Brian Busken - Momentum Cycles Racing 6.01.15
64 Scott Peipert - Wild Trak Bikes 6.46.58
86 Rob Ballou - GORC 7.31.45
90 Kevin Bonney - Mesa Cycles 7.39.46
95 Wendy Davis - Trail Monster 7.49.12
114 Matt Hayes GORC DNF (ouch!)
PS - getting a cabin is the only way to go!
Saturday Tour Day
The river at Bass River Resort was out of its banks and only the taller full-size trucks could brave the waters towing tandem trailers to bring Tour riders to the other side. The water was waist-deep at the low-water bridge crossing.
Joshua Carroll (finished) and Scott Whitaker (rode approx. 28mi) ready for 56 miles of wet fun.
Shot of the Tour riders getting the lowdown.
Lisa (rode about 45mi) crossing the bridge at Brazil creek
Jim Davis (finished) crossing the Brazil Creek
Sunday Race
Racers crossing the river using a tandem trailer and some palettes to stay dry. One rider tried to pass everyone and ended upside down in the river. Wet and foolish at the same time. Ouch.
Scooter checking in at Berryman.
Bryan Adams getting some refills...
Larry Koester on his rigid 29er SS. He did very well on his first Berryman Epic.
Hats off to the promoters - Springfield Bike Co. - for clearing the trail of deadfall and posting 300+ trail arrows. I don't think anyone got lost.
Get ready for next year.
