Last year’s Ironbutt was on 07/07/07, we were greeted with pleasant weather with temperatures reaching the lower nineties. We had 23 whacked out individuals show up for the 90 mile thrashing that is the Ironbutt. We had four veterans (Jason P. Andy R. Larry D. and Bill W) show up (I'm not counting John and James Scheidhauer, who completed the Ironbutt unassisted on July 4 in 6 hours and 45 minutes as they were both out of town on the 7th) and 19 newcomers (Laureen Coffelt, Jeanie Zelinski, Tim Wallace , Ed Garrison, Kermit (Brian), Dennis Thatcher, Steve Franklin, Tony Griffin, Paul Hart, Christian, Jarret Kinder, Chase Dudley, Chris Smith, Patrick Culligan, Dennis, Wade Lewis and John Oakes. The ride got rolling around 7:30 headed to Stanky Creek where several riders found the bridges to be too slick to stay upright on.
We had a record 18 finishers this year, with only three non-finishers and two that could only do part of the ride. The folks that didn't complete the ride gave it a hell of a try. Some riders persevered and pulled to the finish at 8:10 with the last of the available light.
Brian Carlson was not able to ride this year and helped out tremendously with sag stops, we must have called each other 20 times during the day trying to account for every rider.
The Ironbutt awards ($100.00 worth of RB's Cyclery gift certificates) are as follows:
1.) Earliest Cramper: Tony Griffin who rode it out to the end
2.) Worst Crash: This was between Bill Wright and Steve Franklin. Steve finally won out with his swollen wrist and dirt filled teeth.
3.) Funniest Overheard Comment: Laureen Coffelt talking about Steve’s crash and inventing the phrase “Beavering a tree” with the reenactment of him face planting on a log, teeth first.
4.) Most Enthusiastic: Hands down, Jeanie Zelinski. She was happy as a lark with the exception of when we tricked her into thinking we were out of sub sandwiches at her 4 pm lunch.
5.) Best Sob Story: This was a tough one until Christian told us about riding by himself out of the WRT on to Silo rd. Not looking at the route sheet he thought he should go straight on to Germantown Rd. Upon arriving at Germantown Road, he realized that he was meant to have turned left on Silo and lapped the Tour De Wolf course. In the good old Ironbutt spirit he went back to Shelby Farms and lapped the Tour de Wolf
These were some hungry and thirsty folks that my wife Pam had to cook for, here’s what they consumed in a couple of hours: 11/2 gallons of espresso, 1 gallon of milk (used for the 30 or so Frappuccinos), 2 gallons of spaghetti sauce, 4 pounds of pasta, 35 6” sub sandwiches (we had one sandwich left) and 2 cases of Fat Tire Ale.
Thanks for everyone coming out.
