The H8 has been felt

Madison, WI
Saturday April 11, 2009
by: Cory Gwin

The H8tr has been called many things since it inception, The hell of the south, MBM, and the H8tr; notice easy is not one of them! Today I would have called it rebellious.

I have had a pretty good history with the H8tr, the year of it’s inception Nine and I pulled off a huge win. Last year I was lucky enough to place 3rd after 6 hours of sleep and jet lag from a business trip. This year however it seemed the residents of H8trville were not on my side.

The race started out innocently enough, Djonn handled the pace out of town on the parade start leading eighty riders down the South West commuter trail, in Madison. Once unleashed Jesse Lalonde laid down an intense effort that stretched the field like taffy.

We hit the dirt pacing at a blister 28-30 mph and people quickly began to rally for position. Being a Badger trail veteran I quickly got into the pace line and over to the left, knowing that a large drop off lay ahead. Well, unfortunately someone went on a flier at the not so right time and at the last minute saw the drop off. This proved to be bad for me as he quickly tried to avert his death crashing into a bush and causing a pile up. I quickly got around him as I watched the lead group attack my misfortune. I laid down a hard effort trying to close the gap, I looked for someone to pull with me only to find myself in no mans land between the lead group and the chase group.

I chased solo for a solid 5 miles, not gaining or losing ground, until the chase group finally caught me. This seems to be a solid group and a little organization could lead to a successful chase down. I quickly organize the group and we start taking short hard pulls. As we start to close in I clip a rock and hear the air quickly leaving my tire. D**** there goes that chance.

I fixed my flat and decided to just hit it hard for a while. I get into a grove and slowly worked my way backup. Unfortunately, I was pinning it a little to hard to pay attention to the trail signs. I saw a sign that had a straight ahead arrow on it, what I didn’t see were the words turn around written on this sign.

I actually ended up with 76 miles istead of the scheduled 56 mile race. I enjoyed every minute of it however. I got to help out some of the stragglers at the back of the pack by getting one poor lady who had overdone things a bit to a coffee shop for some much needed food, and rode with some friends I hadn’t seen in a while.

Much love to Djonn for yet another great race, and to all the sponsors, including Twin Six, for the sick door prizes. I even won a set of Sun Ringle rims.

Congrats to the winners as well:
mens:
1st- Jesse Lalonde
2nd- Matt Gehling
3rd- Lylez!

womens:
1st- Meghan! Korol
2nd- Claire Cannon
3rd- Katy Steudel