Blake checks in from the Manatoc Challenge in Ohio.

The trip out to Ohio for Manatoc was full of surprises. Starting the trip off with with the airline losing my bike and myself losing my own bag….DOH!… was not the best of starts but Jamis rep Matt Majka hooked me up and soon I was on a 650b cruisin the course.

Saturday was Manatoc demo day and Jamis was out letting people shred a fleet of 650b’s on the race course and its adjacent trail network. Ohio isn’t a place where you might think a plush big travel bike like the 650b would thrive, but the terrain and people just eat it up.

The guys at 331 productions did a top notch job on the event…. the race food was catered and their was a live Flight for Life swoop chopper landing, Hollywood style.

Cratering….I think the record was 18 crates set by a 7 year old

Oh yea.

Between working the demo with Matt, chatting it up with Jamis fans and pre riding the course on the d29 (my bike that showed up at 3:20am) I neglected my body and didn’t give it the necessities it needed such as you know, things like water. Or food. Needless to say the Saturday afternoon CX race didn’t go too well.

Sunday was the XC race. Running on low levels across the board, geared up in baggy’s and a collared mesh tech shirt I picked my place on the start line next to the guy in jean shorts who I have named the humbler. He’s the guy who might not invest in all the fancy gear but nonetheless throws down come the weekend. I’m pretty convinced he puts on the jean shorts just to hurt your feelings if you don’t beat him. And I didn’t.

Kevin and the guys who put on the race at the boyscout camp do a top notch job and putting together a fun course. After a successful weekend of demo and racing Matt and I headed over to Mike’s casa for some post weekend shenanigans. Mike’s got one of the coolest pump tracks in his backyard I’ve ever seen.

We ended the weekend in proper Ohio style with a BBQ and bond fire.

The weekend wasn’t anywhere in the top 10 in terms of race performance but the despite all my hangups I still had a great time, made some good friends and saw a race scene that puts on a great series with the interest of racers and fans in mind. Perhaps next year I’ll be back for another weekend of Manatoc.