When Dedication Pays Off

Remember that dream Mike wrote in November about what he wants to do when "he grows up"?  That dream to be a hardcore athlete?  I'd dare say he done growed up...

On March 12, 2011 he participated in his first mountain bike race.  It was called the Echo Red-to-Red.  It was held in....Echo, Oregon!  Just about 2 hours from Walla Walla so it was a nice little excursion for us.  Unfortunately, our in-house mechanic (ahem) had not yet completed the required preventive maintenance on either bus, which as you know is required before the season's first sizable road trip.  Thus, we took the Subaru.  Note to self: Do the darned preventative maintenance--a bus is a perfect place to change into spandex!

Mike raced in the Category 3 group.  His buddy, Dan from Ellensburg, also raced in the same category and age group.  They were an excited bunch!  First race of the season and first ever race for Mike.

The town of Echo has maybe 300 residents.  There were about 410 racers!!  It was pretty wild.  The town was so accommodating.  They were truly excited to have everyone in town.  The course was on private property on Sno Road which weaved thru vineyards and beautiful natural Oregon greenery. 
Though I'm not sure exactly how many people were in Mike's category and age group, here's a look at the starting line.

The land owners were also the proprietors of Sno Road Winery. Can you guess where I spent my time during the race?

The course was about 24 miles long and not a course that spectators could see.  So I spent a lot of time meandering the town of Echo and taking pictures of their old buildings.  About an hour and half after the start, I started seeing folks coming it.  It was a little deceiving knowing which category was arriving because they started the professionals early but they had a much longer course (31 miles?).  I hustled over the little bridge and positioned myself just about 300 yards from the finish line.

Being that Mike was wearing the Allegro jersey (a dark one and hard to see until its right up on you) and there were about 5 or 6 other Allegro rides, I thought I saw one approaching.  So I grabbed a few action shots thinking that it was his buddy Justin.  Not too long after that I saw his buddy Dan.  Knowing that Dan wasn't as hardcore of a rider as Mike, I thought for sure something had happened to Mike if Dan was finishing before him.  So I started to head back to the finish line and saw Mike coming towards me.  Apparently the person I thought was Justin was really Mike!  In my own defense, they were going really really fast and I had my eyes behind the picture viewer so I wasn't really looking at faces when I snapped this picture!

Back at the finish line we started to look at the reader board.  When you pass the finish line, one of the officials grabs the detachable tag off your jersey and slaps in on this board.  Although unofficial at the time, Mike's tag was the first on the board for his age group AND his category.  That means, he was the first one to finish in the mass start picture above!!  Way to go Mike!!

1st, 2nd and 3rd placers got an appropriate colored cowbell.  First price also got a bottle of the Sno Road Winery's Red-to-Red table wine!  Woot woot!  His buddy Dan got second place too!  It was a great race and a fun little adventure!