Firehouse 50, Grandview, WI. Saturday, August 5th. As told by Mark Brone…Every year we make the pilgrimage up to Northern Wisconsin for this annual event and each year it seems to grow larger and the competition gets better. I remember my teenage years, going up to the cabin for the weekend with a few friends and family members. Fond memories for sure! We are all a little older now but it’s great to see the same familiar faces and we always seem to make this event a priority. That said I was gearing up for a solo run and a potential overall victory in the individual TT. I’d been making it my number one priority since last winter (as far as bike racing events go) and it helped motivate me through many a hard training session as I knew I was a dark horse and many things would have to fall my way to pull it off. I also knew deep inside me that I could do it even though I’m sure many others didn’t think I could. Usually, when I set my mind to something I have been able to accomplish it. I thought this goal was realistic and I was having my best season to date to help reinforce the positive direction I was heading. I’ll cut to race day so as not to build up the disappointment too much. I was to start at 9:07:30 with Gary going off 30 seconds before me. I had no real carrots that I knew of ahead of me and the real competition (defending champion and record holder Tim Mulrooney) lurked 4 minutes behind so basically I was trying to concentrate on my own race which was a good thing in an event this long. Three days prior I changed out my tires and tubes for hi-pressure tubular clinchers from TUFO. I thought the fresh rubber would be more resistant to flats and the higher pressure would help me gain slightly less rolling resistance. It turned out to be a bad omen I guess because at about 22.3 miles I heard the loud pop and instantly knew my day was done. Luckily for me Linda Whyte and her three children were cheering on Brett right at the entrance to Telemark Lodge and I only had about a quarter of a mile to coast and I could get a ride back to the finish. We watched Tim come through and from my estimation it didn’t really seem more or less than the 4 minutes I started in front of him by. I’ll end my speculation there because I didn’t finish and to say I would have done this or would have beaten so and so is in bad taste and really detracts from the fine efforts those people who did finish put in. Basically, my run started well but the legs felt blocked and I couldn’t go as fast as I wanted in the biggest gear I wanted to push so I struggled along until the climb on M. After that the legs unblocked and I was clicking on all cylinders. My Garmin showed an average speed of a little over 31 miles an hour from the descent of that climb to where I flatted. Could I have kept that up for another 28 miles? We’ll never know and that’s why I’m now motivated for next year, much to my wife Shelli’s chagrin! Tim ended up winning with a fine time in the 1:53:30’s and Daniel Casper came in roughly a minute behind him with Gordy Paulson about 1 minute behind him. I would have like to have just crossed the line like years past…my wooden beer token got me a cup of brew that just didn’t taste as good as the ones in years past. I will say this however, I was extremely happy for a lot of friends, family and local people (customers or not) who put up some stellar efforts and finished better than they even imagined. Looking back on it now, I’ll remember this Firehouse 50 for all the great stories I heard from other people and enjoy what might have been. To check out more results from this event you can log on to www.firehouse50.org. It’s hard to say who did the best from our group as everyone improved or exceeded expectations from what I could tell. I think Brett putting in a 2:00:40 run and taking 6th overall would probably be the icing but Mike Bobusch getting 4th in the open race was a great result and having 3 other riders in the lead pack was cool too so way to go Max, Steve and Joe! The list goes on as Jerry, Pete, Brad and Ken edged Ralph Heaths team by 2 seconds for a victory in the 4 man TTT over 200 age category. I’m sure both teams will be motivated for next year now! Jens and Gregg won the 2 person TT overall. On a down note, Tom Brandt crashed early on in the open race and hurt his shoulder. Also, Lynn Martin got his front wheel hooked by his teammate and went down hard. Early reports were a broken clavicle but further x-rays showed that to be false and there is just excessive trauma to the area which shouldn’t require surgery. If you have anything you’d like to add send me an e-mail and I’ll post it. You can see some of the photos I (or Linda Whyte) took below. Enjoy and thanks for reading!
