Pua & Tinker Win Dirt Sweat and Gears

05.06.08

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Saturday, May 3rd was the 12 Hours of Dirt Sweat & Gears race in Fayetteville Tennessee. Part of the USA Cycling Ultra Endurance series this race attracted the highest level of male and female competition for the second year in a row.
The weather forecast called for rain the night beforecontinuinginto the morning and that is exactly what we got! As soon as the racers hit the single track into the woods the mud-fest began. Bikes were clogging up,de-railersand chains were breaking everywhere in the first 20 minutes of what would prove to be a very long lap for most.

Tinker Juarez only brought one bike and it was a hard tail. Before the race he thought this might not be a wise choice due to the rocky and bumpy course but it wouldultimatelypay off. While others were messing with there bikes in the mud Tinker was way out front and able to keep pedaling. Single speed racers such as Dejay Birch & John "Fuzzy" Mylne had an advantage over the geared racers, less wasdefinitelymore and they were able to pedal their way through the muck and get out front also.

We opted for the suspension as most did and Pua got caught in the mire also having to stop and remove mud just to keep on pedaling. After the first lap we switched her onto her Ellsworth Enlightenment hard-tail and she was able to move steady again.
On the mens side Tinker kept himself out front and held on to the end with Brandon Drauglelis just 6 minutes back and Josh Tostado was able to come back from mechanicals and a huge deficit to round out the top 3.

On the women's side Pua was able increase her lead over second place racer Rebecca Rusch to a comfortable 18 - 20 minutes by 6 hours in. At that point she could settle in for the next 5 hours and take the win. Rebecca came in 16 minutes later and Carey Lowery finished out the top three just one lap back.