It's like, how much more eleven could this be?

And the answer is none.

None more eleven.

When I found out I just missed the top ten by less than 30 seconds, I was a little bummed...

Until I realized I was 11th overall.

11th overall + 1st SS = 111

Oddly enough, yesterday's post was number 1,101 on teamdicky.blogspot.com.

The eleven hundred and oneth post.

I finished the race in 7:24.

That's 444 minutes, which when divided irrelevantly by the number of checkpoints (4), you get 111.

Had enough?

Here's Sam Koerber (overall winner) and I at the finish line in a non-posed, chummy manner.

photo cred: Eric

He's thinking about taking me home and putting me to work as a garden gnome.

Sam won his race by one second. This was a real deal timing chip race that covered 111 kilometers and he won in a sprint by a real deal second. How cool is that? I was happy that I only finished 27 minutes behind him. I plan on finishing that much behind him every day at the Trans-Sylvania Epic next week. Much shorter stages, bigger gaps, good times.

Here's Zac and I having a Shirtless Club for Men moment with Garth ducking away in the background embarrassed to show his moobs.

photo cred: Eric

Sad, sad Garth.

I think Zac and I both feel a little vindicated for our tragic PMBAR experience. We had brought our A-game two weeks ago, but we just didn't get to put them to good use. Of course I feel slightly more vindicated than he does... being that I spanked him.

The podium shot:

Normally I despise (that may be too strong of a word) people who dress up in a full kit and drag their bikes up to the podium with them. Seems a bit over the top... but this was different. I swear. It's just that I was beaming with pride to be riding a frame that was designed and welded together less than five miles away from that very podium. Steve Stickel lives right around the corner from the Pisgah National Forest, and the man just knows how to build a bike that can handle that terrain. I really wanted to win this race, and I really, really wanted to do it on this bike. Not to mention on wheels that were manufactured 30 miles away with a headset that was chiseled out of aluminum less than 20 miles away. I guess I could also mention my seatpost that was welded over 1,600 miles away, but that might be pushing the whole "local" thing.

There will be more tomorrow. I might be able to squeeze four days outta this at this rate