DORBA Frozen Series (2015) Recap Sponsored by GoTStrong.com

10313748_1077963695575758_7918104665776239895_n — Racing member, Brad Wendling

The Frozen Series is an endurance series with the option of 6 hours (solo or relay team) or 4 hours (solo only). The series kicked off at a chilling 28 degrees at Erwin Park in McKinney, Texas. We started off the morning with a small group of high performance, dedicated endurance athletes. First things first, cheers to the 2015 season! To start things off on the right foot, we slammed a few shots of spiced Jägermeister (super gross) and stood around for half an hour for a delayed race start. Luckily, we had some team members hook it up with the propane heaters and 2 gallons of smoking hot apple cider. It was helpful, but still very cold. The race start was your typical endurance Le Mans dash with your typical group of dude-bro racers sprinting to their bikes and the “Too Cool for School” crowd casually jogging behind. I’m not so sure the Le Mans start was very helpful in spacing out the crowd, because many of us got stuck behind the parade on the first lap with a major bottleneck at every turn. It’s all good though. This is endurance racing, you’ve got all day to catch up. I saw some more Jägermeister shots going down and cheeseburgers being eaten between laps. Nothing sets the tone for endurance mountain bike racing like a party in the pit! It was a good time!

The good times continued at the second race at Northshore with a not-so-frozen day! The temperatures could not have been better. Hey, 70 degrees in the middle of winter? No complaining here. As we waited for the start, there were more shots being taken and blueberry pancakes were being devoured as BWR got ready to take on the day. After the usual racer’s meeting, everyone sat their bikes down and found their spot on the rail for the usual Le Mans start. The signal was given and the racers were off. The first part of the course was a lot of fun with some fast, flowing sections followed by a few switchbacks here and there. As we got to the second part of the course, let’s just say the more “technically-savvy” excelled as there were multiple rock gardens, some rocky climbs, and one tough cliff face climb. All in all, it was a great day for racing and we walked away with only one small injury (Sorry, Michael). 🙂

10931274_1077963688909092_8538663878304224130_n — Racing member, Mike D’Aurelio

The third and final race was at Rowlett Creek Preserve. Rowlett Creek Preserve is a trail that most of us have ridden numerous times. It’s where a lot of events, races, and group rides take place due to its reputation for being more of a beginner trail. This is the mindset that many had going into this portion of the Frozen Series. Then, it was announced that the course was to be ran backwards! BWR still had several members that were up for the challenge.The course was much more challenging and interesting than expected. Since it was backwards, even those very familiar with the course got disoriented. The beginning was full of good drops, steep climbs, and some fun dips while the middle had a couple of longer climbs that kept the heart rate going, while the end had some interesting obstacles to keep things exciting. A wonderful course combined with perfect weather made for a great day!

All in all, we would like to thank DORBA for organizing the Frozen Series. We know this would not be possible without your hard work and dedication. We are looking forward to next year!