Galena Grinder Race Report

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The 2010 edition of the Galena Grinder is in the books, and let me tell you, it was a fucking awesome time.  Seriously if you have never had the chance to try this race out, mark your calender for some weekend next year in July, and plan a trip up to Sun Valley, ID to take part.  The course is brutal, but will be a true test of ones man or womanhood, the sights are sublime, and the course is off the charts good.  First things first, huge props to Greg and Rebecca for putting Self, Dejay, and Emma up for the past couple nights in Ketchum, Rebecca made some quality chow last night as a pre-race feed, and Greg is currently being kind enough to let us polish off his bottle of Rouge Dead Guy Whiskey, life don’t get much better than that.

Anyway, onto the race, we toe the line at 9 am for 45 miles worth of mountain bike racing, and while I’m not positive on the exact numbers, there is probably somewhere between 6000 and 7000 feet worth of climbing.  Basically this course is fucking harsh, and no matter how strong you are, there will be some form of attrition and survival on the plate for each and every racer.  We are told to go, and I somehow manage to grab the holeshot.  Kinda pointless seeing as though this is a four hour racer for us singlespeeders, and I also have a tendency to go out too hard on longer MTB races.  The course is a good mix of loose doubletrack and singletrack, with plenty of dust getting kicked up to help burn the lungs even more.  I finish up my climb on “heart attack hill” on the first lap, then start the descent, and my problems on the day begin.  I come out of switchback, and don’t recognize  the right turn I need to make onto another switchback.  I continue to descend down a double track road for a little too long, until realize I have gone the wrong way.  Big ups to Evan Plews, who when I was going the wrong way, and asked him if I was off course, he said, “no”, that guy is a dick in my book, so in conclusion, “Fuck Evan Plews.”

After fixing the mistake and dropping from first to fifth, I put in a big effort to get myself back up to second in the SS group.  Sure enough I will pay for this later in the form of dead legs and cramps.  Yes, after riding strong for 23 miles, the Gods of cycling struck me down with a vengence, and I was beaten down like a rented mule.  I spend the second lap fighting cramps, walking more than I should, cursing at myself for going out too hard, but still the whole time was able to enjoy my time on the course.  In the end I wind up in 3rd place in the SS group, with traveling partner Dejay taking the big W.  His prize was the “Beer” Hat that I have had the pleasure of owning for the past year, and a weedwacker.  Following the race, we cool down in a creek, drink some hooch, eat some chow, and enjoy the awards ceremony.  I was lucky enough to pick up a jersey from the fine folks at Club Ride Apparel, and am excited to test out how it feels on some long rides here in the Sun Valley/Stanley areas in the days to come.  Enjoy the pictures below, a 12 pack of beer just got dropped off that we need to get to work on.

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Grabbin the hole shot

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Flying the colors at awards

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Enjoying the finish

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Presenting the Beer Hat for the SS victory

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Trip back to town with Master of Puppets playing in the background.

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About 40 Hands

A fan of riding bikes with one gear, malt liquor, riding without knowing how many miles I’ve covered, and strip clubs that let you bring your own keg. I typically have a stupid grin on my face, it is because deep down I know that no matter what, my mom thinks I’m cool. Denver, Colorado, USA

22 Replies to “Galena Grinder Race Report”

  1. Don’t ever change, 40. Don’t ever change.

    And, yeah, telling someone they are on-course when they’re not is a total dick move.

  2. 40 , Way to duel it with a strong finish at the end ! Thanks for letting me through on the Psyco DH just before the finish ! Way classy . It was nice to see the passion from the AZ contingent – DC nation . Solid riding skills and such . You will be rewarded with good karma and no crashes for the remainder of the season ! Evan rubs when he races and takes alot of space up , his Karma will be suspect for the next few races but he was probably pissed cause he over shot ! He chased at the end and took it in stride .In the end its all good cause were there for the right reason . Austa STM

  3. That race kicked my ass and then burried it in a hole full of moondust and somehow I Love that place. I will be there as long as it is called the Whit Henry memorial. Whit was my good friend’s son and well he was my friend too. He was taken far too young in a car wreck. Everyone who can get there needs to do this race.

  4. Well 40, for the record I’ve reassembled a single speed from the pile of bike part puke on the basement floor. Thanks for fronting the love. More of this. Much, much more of this.

  5. THIS IS DC! Dump Judi and LittleJar with their useless stories of a “save the world through a V8 bread box van” and “my man” bmx. Who gives a fuck?
    Adventure, carnage, rebirth. repeat.

    I’ve had enough. More Dirty Biker, Gnome, Bj, Bikepunk.

    Littlejar…judi…fade away…please

  6. My truck drinks gasoline and spews filth. Since when did I claim otherwise? Since when did I say anything about saving the world with my truck? Idiot.
    My earlier posts – not about a bread truck. Fuck off, dude.
    You’re head is all the way up your own shit filled ass. ‘Rick’ – if drunkcyclist is so important to you that it meets your standards of purity, why don’t you start your own, and not invite Judi or me??

  7. …didn’t change the name, oops. My house mate uses 3rd place when he makes comments. He didn’t write that – I DID. (obviously)
    Hey – just for you, cunt – I ain’t mentioning the bread truck ANY MORE unless 4 people ask me to. Will that get you to SHUT THE FUCK UP?

  8. OR why doesn’t Rick man up and have BJ or Gnome let him put up a couple of test posts? Let’s see if he has anything interesting to say… I’ve had my problems with littlejar, but he’s putting posts up and it seems like he’s chilled a bit. And why the hate for Judi? She rides bikes and is more punk rock than you will ever be. Rick = Lo-Fi

  9. Great race report. I don’t recall the course being that long, but it’s been over 15 years since I did that race…

  10. Adding 6 and 8 is easy, but being creative when you’re a drunk cyclist is NOT easy. Believe me. Jefe, hombre – why the hate on lo-fi? Something wrong with old records? Rick is broke dick.

  11. Meant it as ‘low class’, didn’t mean the genre of music or vinyl records. I still enjoy listening to old vinyl… Few things beat a rainy night with Miles turned way up on the Hi-Fi…

  12. I’m drunk in France soon to be racing endure. But right now I would like the fight Plews. That guy soulless. Nice write up. I raced the grinder 14 years ago and it was rad then. Looks even better now.

  13. A friend said I should check this out and I only see a couple inaccuracies in an otherwise fair analysis. Unfortunately those concern yours truly so I felt compelled to set the record straight. First of all, I was running second overall when I missed the said turn and rode a mile or more downhill to an intersection with part of the course that we had previously done. There WAS ribbon there and also a guy coming back up the hill toward me. I remember asking one another if we were on track and by my estimation he was off course since there was only one other guy ahead of me when I made the wrong turn. Unfortunately it became clear that we were both off course and so I headed back up the hill to find my mistake. On the way up, I passed one other rider coming down and tried to tell him to turn around because we were going the wrong way. In either case it wasn’t like we sat down and had a beer summit to discuss our wayward riding, so mis-hearing/mis-speaking is always possible, too. Under any circumstances I would NEVER knowingly tell another rider to go the WRONG way so I must apologize if that was the interpretation of my frustrated oxygen deprived garble. Hope we all have a better time at the next race because the moral of this story is: it really stinks getting lost during a race! Cheers, EP.

  14. Fuck you Evan Plews! Kidding! Kidding! I don’t even know you, but you hurt 40 Hands feelings. Nobody hurts 40 Hands feelings!!! Wait, I’m kidding again. Someday, maybe I’ll be able to buy you a beer as compensation for the issue.
    Till then, nice work, man.

    keep it rubber down,
    g

  15. Mr. Plews,
    I rode my ass off course down to that same intersection, what I remember is that on the way down I passed you, and when I asked if I was off course, I thought I heard you say “no”. There is a decent chance that I may have misheard you when you were attempting to inform me to turn around. Regardless, its all over and done with, we both got to spend that fine day at Galena riding our bikes at a great race. Thanks for taking the time to give your side of the story, and if you make your way to the High Cascades next weekend, we can bury the hatchet with a beer.
    -40