The 2009 Traverse
Early Saturday morning RL, Ner and I met at my house. We were going to cheer on our teammate Eric “The Animal” Hunner as he was racing in The Traverse. What’s the Traverse? Here’s a brief description:
Heading up to Beek’s we went up via Skyline Rd. Tight fireroad all the way up the mountain which was rutted in several sections. Reaching the base of Beek’s Place was a group of guys which I believe were the part of the Aid Station. As I was getting out of the car, I hear one of them say “here comes the first rider”. We got there just in time!
I started making my way up the hill to find a good spot for pictures when I heard a rider coming up behind me. It was Manny Prado… If you recall, Manny Prado placed 3rd in the Leadville 100 last year behind Lance Armstrong.
Manny is a machine! I turned around and snapped a quick picture. I then headed up the hill to look for a spot to catch the rest of the racers.
Several riders later, I see Eric – The Animal on his singlespeed. To give you an idea how intense of a rider he is, see the sequence below as he passes a geared rider up the hill.
The Travers gets the best of many racers. While most rode through this section, there were a few that had no choice but to walk their bikes.
You can see RL an Ner at the base of Beek’s.
Congratulations to those that participated. It is quite an accomplishment! More pictures can be found here www.js3images.com.
RL, Ner and I at Beek’s Place
Man Eric is super cool. That dude has so much power in him that he was making the riders look down right weak!
Way to go Animal!
By the way Eric was one of the first Single Speed riders that came through that check point.
RL
Would it be possible to use your pic of Manny Prado for our race report?
Nice coverage, Great Job
Thanks
John