DAWN TIL BRUNCH 2012

UNDERCOVER POLYGAMIST IN GALLUP, REZ DOG
PALACE, SIXTY PLUS POUND BIKE & LIVING THE DREAM

By Bob

Yes . . . in what has become an annual beat down by Gallup’s cruel spring weather, Rez Dogs turned in some amazing performances and not only survived, but thrived amidst the chaos. A report:

1. PRE-RACE GALLUP CUP FRENZY REACHES NEW HEIGHTS. A solid two month build up reached new heights when:
Chuck Van Drunen first orchestrated Hadji Corona’s entry as Peter Tempest’s teammate and then did a complete 180 and lobbied to get Hadji, and all other duos with former Gallupians, disqualified from the Gallup Cup competition,
Chuck began writing inflammatory blog posts that even his partner, Andy Stravers, was complaining about until he found out who the real author was,
Dirk Hollebeek was tossing aside partners like the were dirty shirts until he finally ended up with his original partner,
Allan Phillips pulled off an epic hoax by convincing everyone that former European pro, Scottie Nydam, was going to ride duo with him, and
Informed sources reported that, in fact, Chuck is a polygamist (remember the beard in the shower photo?) from Colorado City, Arizona who is on the run and hiding in Gallup from the FBI and therefore not a true Gallup resident himself.

2.NIGHT GUY – MORNING GUY – EPISODE #37. How many times can Chuck pull off his Night Guy/ Morning Guy routine before he crashes and burns? His pre-race D2D ritual this year involved a repeat viewing of Braveheart, large quantities of whiskey, multiple hot tub sessions and no – none, zero, nada – sleep the night before. While Andy was out on the first lap, Chuck was fixing a flat, guzzling Red Bull and generally looking and acting like a basket case. In other words, he was primed to rip off another phenomenally fast race.

3.REZ DOG PALACE. Rez Dog Directeur Sportif, Greg Cavanaugh, outdid himself at D2D. Think back with me to last summer’s 24HIEF in which we had we had the very worst campsite (downwind from the portable potties) on our very own course. This year Greg orchestrated not one but two walled Tomac tent canopies with a large Rez Dog banner next to the start/finish line that were filled with food, drink and the smiling face of Andy Newell.

4.SOLO AND TEAM WARRIORS. Paul DeWitt, riding single speed, turned in the best solo effort by putting in two laps in 2:28.23 before the blizzard hit with full force. Also riding solo were Blaine Silversmith, Brian Culligan, Brian Hroch, Jonathan Chiang and Charles Chiang. In the team category, Nate Haveman, Doug Evilsizor and Jason Arsenault put in three strong laps and Jason probably rode the gutsiest lap of the entire race when he came back riding with a bike completely caked in mud that weighed over 60 pounds.

5.THE MAIN EVENT: GALLUP CUP. This year, race director Lindsay Mapes gave the Gallup Cup racers (Gallup male duos) a category all to themselves . . . and it was comprised of five strong teams including the two fastest duos in the race. Simply put, the Gallup Cup was the main event – and it did not disappoint. Chuck and Andy put four minutes on the dream team of Peter and Hadji over three laps to claim first. Chuck rode a blistering second lap of 59:31 which was the fastest full lap of the entire race and Andy rode two super strong laps. In short, they rode like two guys who had been talking trash for months and had something they had to prove. Chad Meekhof (partnering with Greg for 3rd) rode one of the fastest full laps of the day at 1:02:56 and Dirk “Hollebeast” Hollebeek (partnering with Allan for 4th) put in stalwart back to back first and second laps of 50:30 and 1:04.39. Newcomers Jeremy Boucher and Jeremy Devey were a welcome addition to the mix and rode respectably for 5th (they were faster than 7 teams in the open duo class).

6.LIVING THE DREAM. Hadgi, Peter, Chuck and Andy – in that order – each got to live the dream in this year’s D2D. Each one of them rode a big chunk of the race completely off the front with a few hundred other racers chasing.

A CONCLUDING QUESTION: Will Chuck and Andy (who last year won a 10 hour version of D2D and this year won a 3+ hour version) ever win a full 12 hour D2D race? We asked this question to several racers and we like this answer from Dirk the best: “Time will tell. They definitely have an asterisk – like Barry Bonds. Maybe we should say they won the Dawn til Brunch race.” Oh, man . . . here we go. It’s already on for next year.