Written by: Sean Sindt
The opening round of the TMBRA racing series took place last weekend in Terlingua, TX. The Mas O Menos 100K serves as the first of the eight race Texas spring series and is also a round of the winter marathon series. It is also the first stop on the USA Cycling Ultra-Endurance calendar.
The men’s open race had a huge turnout compared to the usual showing. Thirty-one riders took to the line to test their early season legs in hot and dry conditions. The pre-race talk went back and forth between two topics. One was the appearance of mountain bike legend Travis Brown. Who made the trip all the way down from Durango, Colorado to compete. Everybody was excited to have the opportunity to race against the mountain bike legend. The other topic of interest was the Tres Cuevas hill climb. This climb comes at roughly mile 25 of the 32-mile lap. It covers 1200 vertical feet and takes the riders an estimated 20 minutes to grind their way up. With the temperature expected to get up into the 80’s everybody was wondering how difficult that climb would be by the end of the second of two laps. Bryan Fawley (Park Place Lexus) was coming into the race as the favorite and hoping to take the victory. “I finished 5th two years ago, 3rd last year, so this year it would be nice to finally win,” Fawley said before the race.
Off the start, it was obvious Fawley wanted to win. A flat jeep road led the field out for the first few miles and he quickly built a lead of around 30 seconds by the time the field hit the single track. Following Fawley was Scott Henry (Team Hammerhead), Travis Brown (Trek), John Cody (Solar Eclipse), Sean Sindt (Austin Flyers/Bicycle Sport Shop), and Ray Hall (Trek). As the pace settled in, Hall dropped off leaving five riders at the front. Fawley widened the gap as he approached the Tres Cuevas Hill climb and claimed the $100 prize for being the first rider up to the top. A few minutes later Henry appeared, followed by Brown, Sindt, and Cody. Towards the end of the first lap, Brown pulled away from Sindt and Cody but then had the grave misfortune to crash into a pole as he came through the start/finish area. The crash wasn’t serious, but it was enough to prevent Brown from finishing the race.
As the race continued, Fawley appeared to have victory in his hands as he increased his lead to over five minutes. Henry started to fall victim to the heat, which got up to 80 degrees towards the end of the race, and started to cramp. Cody and Sindt caught him just before the final ascent of the Tres Cuevas climb. “He was on the side of the trail and when I caught him he jumped back on his bike,” said Sindt. “He said he was having bad cramps and didn’t know if he could finish. We rode together for about five minutes and then I heard a lot of screaming and cussing behind me. I guess he was cramping again.”
Fawley easily won the race, finishing six minutes ahead of Cody, who passed Sindt on the final climb. Rick Wetherald (Solar Eclispe) finished 4th and David Hanes (Ride Away Bicycles) rounded out the top five. Henry managed to hang on to 6th after fighting his leg cramps. “I felt good today; it’s nice to finally win this one,” said Fawley.
The Women's race was dominated by World 24 Hour Solo Champion Rebecca Rusch (Specialized/Red Bull). Rusch showed off her talents as an endurance rider completing the 64 miles in just over 4 hours 45 minutes more than 20 minutes clear of second placed rider Alice Pennington ( S&M/Desalvo Custom Cycles). Finishing off the podium was Clair McKenna (Team Hammerhead).
The second round of the TMBRA series will be in two weeks at St. Jo, Texas on March 1st.
Mas O Menos Results 2/14/09
Open Men
1 Bryan Fawley 4:08:05 Park Place Lexus
2 John Cody 4:14:41 Solar Eclipse
3 Sean Sindt 4:17:04 Austin Flyers/Bicycle Sport Shop
4 Rick Wetherald 4:17:50 Solar Eclipse
5 David Hanes 4:19:39 Ride Away Bicycles
6 Scott Henry 4:21:51 Hammerhead
7 Stewart Stafford 4:22:08 Austin Flyers/Bicycle Sport Shop
8 Mitchell Comardo 4:24:25 Gary Fisher 29er
9 Chris Renshaw 4:28:16 918XC
10 Kevin Koen 4:33:50 Team Bike Lane
11 Lucas Brusseau 4:39:24 Bicycles Plus
12 Eric Hess 4:40:28 Austinbikes
13 Alex Morgan 4:40:58 Cycle Progression
14 Kevin Willson 4:41:10 WoodyCreek Tavern/Hub of Aspen
15 Harry Precourt 4:41:45 International Bike Centers
16 Mason Quintana 4:54:36 Austin Bikes
17 Yuri Hauswald 5:06:43 Marin Bikes.com
18 Greg Martin 5:15:24 Dale's Pale Ale
19 Jason Asay 5:16:31
20 Joshua Rosby 5:17:31 Raising Cane's Racing
Open Women
1 Rebecca Rusch 4:45:25 Specialized/Red Bull
2 Alice Pennington 5:07:26 S&M/Desalvo Custom Cycles
3 Claire McKenna 5:15:21 Team Hammerhead
4 Melanie Etherton 5:16:59
5 Danielle Musto 5:18:05 Kenda-Tomac-Hayes
6 Sara Krause 5:46:14 Team NRC