Race Report: Dirt Sweat and Gears 12 Hour Mountain Bike Race

The FM Race Team made it up to Fayetteville, Tennessee for Dirt Sweat and Gears, an annual 12 hour mountain bike race and festival. Located on private land, the trails are only open a precious few times a year and this weekend they were open to hundreds of racers competing in 2 man, 4 man, and solo categories. Faster Mustache fielded two 2-man teams: The Brobots and The Yallbros.

The rain came at about 2:00am and ended abruptly about 30 minutes before race start. This made for some of the muddiest trails any of these riders have ridden. It didn't phase Tinker Juarez, who finished his first lap in what would be one of the fastest laps of the day. It did phase our FM'ers, however, who had their slowest laps on the first lap, coming in caked with mud that was the consistency of peanut butter. The lap times improved as the day went on and the sun came out to dry the trails.

Heading into the second half of the race, the Brobots (A-Ron Burgundy and Crazy-legs Crenshaw) were stuck in 12th place and looking for a comeback. The Yallbros (The Real Deal Howard and Krautstache) weren't far behind but needed a miracle to break out of the last quadrant of the pack. That miracle came with three-in-a-row laps from Krautstache, all with fast times. Two dunkin sticks and a bottle of goo got him through, helping the yallbros to finish a respectable 14th out of 20 teams.

The Brobots battled in the second half of the race, improving from 12th to 7th place in two laps, thanks to a 1:04 lap from Crazy legs and a 1:11 lap from A-ron. Their lap times only improved from there, propelling them into 6th place by the end of the race, only 1 minute 40 seconds behind 5th place.

Faster Mustache found some like minded folks in Team Yazoo, who was kind enough at Pinhotti to share some beer and some wool jersey tips. This time around they were true compatriots in biking and beer drinking, offering tips on sponsorship and how to get 12-stitches-bad injuries on your first lap. Shout out to them and also to Sharp and Swiftwick, who are making some fine cycling socks right there in Cleveland, Tennessee. Hopefully we haven't seen the last of them!