Ultra Marathon time Trialers Show Up at Jack Frost TT

I had fun racing the Jack Frost TT, but there were other highlights about Sunday’s event I am excited to share. Pulling into the venue we spotted Sandy Earl, female ultra racer extraordinaire. Minutes later Bill Nicolai, Hammer Nutrition’s photo and testimonial celebrity and 60+ ultra marathon racer. While we were warming up another outstanding and very fast ultra marathon cyclist, Kenneth Philbrick, came by. It was great to see and visit with these wonderful people. The circle of ultra marathon cyclists is small and at every event the racers and support crew tend to get tight relying on one another.

I know this because I’ve been supporting my man, Hugh on what is now considered short and not so hard ultra races of 300 miles way back when to more recent RAAM qualifying events. He’s modest about it, but it is pretty dang cool that he has ranked 5th in the UMCA (www.ultracycling.com) two years in a row and somewhere around top 10 the year before. There were other ultra marathoners out there including Hammer Velo’s team captain, Jeff Tedder, who has team experience with ultra marathon racing, and yours truly. I did the Ring of Fire, a 12-hour TT last fall and am looking forward to the Lewis and Clark Ultra (LACultra, www.lacultra.com) this spring and the Ring of Fire in the fall. I mention these races because I hope that my Hammer Velo teammates will consider doing these races and/or Race Across Oregon (www.raceacrossoregon.com/) as individuals or teams.

So finally Sunday provided a great experience to gather and race with my new teammates and see some of the people who I’ve come to value and respect through Oregon’s ultra marathon race scene. It was a fun race and a fulfilling day.