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). 🙂

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!

Here are the final results from Erwin:

6 hr Male Team

Minh Nguyen and Phil Hollings, 4th

6 hr SS Open

Jesse Bernal, 17th

Brad Wendling, 18th

6 hr Men (Solo)

Mike D’Aurelio, 18th

4 hr Men (Solo)

Yavor Gerenski, 9th

Evan McGinley, 7th

Dan Johnson, 29th

Dan Smith, 48th

James Henson, 49th

David Foster, 51st

4 hr Women (Solo)

Brittany Smith, 8th

Jenny Griffin, 9th

Melissa Dalton, 11th

 

Here are the final results from North Shore:

6 hr Male Team

Dan Smith and Phil Hollings, 6th

Michael Shannon and Ryan Nanayakkara, 12th

6 hr Men (Solo)

Mike D’Aurelio, 21st

4 hr Men (Solo)

Eric Swarvar, 10th

Yavor Gerenski, 11th

Dan Johnson, 49th

David Deery, 82nd

James Henson, 91st

4 hr SS Open

Brad Wendling, 8th

4 hr Female (Solo)

Melissa Dalton, 10th

Brittany Smith, 11th

 

Here are the final results from Rowlett Creelk Preserve:

6 hr Male (Solo)

Mike D’Aurelio, 9th

Shane Walden, 17th

4 hr SS Open

Brad Wendling, 5th

Jenny Griffin, 6th

4 hr Male (Solo)

Nathan Delahoussaye, 42nd

David Foster, 52nd

James Henson, 55th

4 hr Female (Solo)

Melissa Dalton, 2nd

 

 

 

 

 

Back to where it all began, the team amassed the largest showing at this annual Terra Firma event to date.  Two 3-4 person co-ed teams, one 2-man 12 hour team, one 4 man team, one 6 hour solo, and two 12 hour SS solo made for the largest team at the event. Period.

The forecast the entire week was well, rain.  Fortunately, the rain held off until the afternoon, and the pit tent was active with the best support a team can have!  Hot soup, snacks, and food and water throughout the day made our racers feel invincible.

The two man team of Jonathan Braddick and Marcus Gillespie already won their category the second the race started, because know one else signed up for that category.  That didn’t change anything, as they end up with 11 laps due to weather.

The two co-ed teams battled for the top spot all day together, along with another team.  One was a three person team, Brad Wendling, Melissa Dalton, and Mike D’Aurelio end up in third behind Judge Rucker, Kate Castro, Micheal Shannon, and Corey Fawcett who ended up in second place.

The solo troopers were the big highlight of this 12 hour endurance race!  Jesse Bernal (12 hr SS, Nick Castro (12 hr SS) and Brad McDaniel (6 hr) all did an amazing job.  Nick completed 5 laps on a broken bicycle and is first solo 12 hour, Brad also completed his first solo endurance race, and Jesse was the superman on the team for the weekend.  He completed 10 solo single speed laps, and finished in 2nd place overall!

Here are the final results and pictures from the fun!

12 hr Solo SS

Jesse Bernal, 2nd place

Nick Castro, 5th place

6 hr Solo

Brad McDaniel, 16th place

12 hr Co-ed team

Judge Rucker, Micheal Shannon, Kate Castro, Corey Fawcett, 2nd place

Brad Wendling, Melissa Dalton, Mike D’Aurelio, 3rd place

12 hr Four Man

Minh Nguyen, Evan McGinely, Nathan Delahoussaye, Moreece Griffin, 6th place

12 hr Two Man

Marcus Gillespie, Jonathan Braddick, 1st place

 

 

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