Ring of Fire 2007 Roster/Results
Download the spreadsheet breakdown
7:24 A.M. Urs Koenig defends his title and breaks his course record completing 414 miles. Michael Wolfe piloted his Bacchetta to the recumbent title taking second overall with 392 miles. Wolfe also claims the Co-Motion Espresso frameset with an overall average speed between RAO and RoF of 14.22 mph compared to Glenn Johnson’s 13.99. More details to come – we’re off to the awards breakfast.
6:43 A.M. The 2007 Ring of Fire is over! Glenn Johnson just turned in his best lap of the night. Tom Letsinger wins the prize for the best timing job ever – crossing the finish line with 16 seconds to spare.
5:16 A.M. Wow, it’s cold out here – 41.7 degrees. sure wish I was riding! HAHA.
3:42 A.M. After racing 265 miles, sixteen year old Alex Kohan decides to call it a night.
3:33 A.M. Random thoughts from a bunch of tired people: I just had four hours of sleep I feel great! Spiders are chasing me! Spiders are chasing you?? One of the all time great things to have on your tombstone: There should have been a 4 way stop.
3:11 A.M. Tom Letsinger rides in ahead of Hugh!
3:10 A.M. Any overriding thoughts on the day Bill? Got some really good ideas about solo RAO from everyone I talked with today….Ken, Ben, Hugh…
3:01 A.M. 62 year old Bill Nicolai proves the elderly are early risers.
2:56 A.M. Sara Kay interview: The party continues as the queen of recumbents joins the group: High and low points of the race? Talking to mile marker number 5 on the short loop was definitely one of the low points. Number 5 and I had a little talk over an oatmeal cookie… Seeing mile marker 18 at 7:00…plus all the little squirrels…and not having a squirrel go through my spokes. Sounds like quite the recommendation for Ring of Fire Sara Kay…I know I’ll be here next year.
2:36 A.M. Sandy Earl interview: How’s the dark treating you Sandy? The uphill dark sucks…the downhill dark is much better.
1:55 A.M. Memorable quote from p.o’d crewmember: “I didn’t drive all this way to watch you quit a bike race.” The racer continued.
1:52 A.M. Visiting kayaker looking for a campground: “If they dredge for me later, my name is William. It was nice to have known you.”
12:09 A.M. The temp has dropped to 48.7 degrees. It is completely calm. Sandy Earl just cruised in with 211 miles under her tires. She’s throwing on some warm clothes and heading back to the Maupin climb. Quite a bit of wildlife out tonight. We’re punch drunk sleepy and laughing at stuff that wouldn’t be funny if we were wide awake. The crews are helping each other out and, while the competition remains fierce there is a total sense of cameraderie among the crew members.
Wow – Michael Wolfe wants to win that Co-Motion. His lap splits have been 1:34:40, 1:34:20, 1:36:30 and 1:36:28. The only racer going faster right now is Urs. Wolfe just spent about 2 seconds in the pit area at the finish of his last lap.
Word is Mark Newsome has withdrawn from the race after completing 184 miles. We haven’t received official notification from Mark and will update as soon as we hear….word from the spectators is that this will probably come around 7:30 tomorrow morning…
Alex Kohan is riding toward our goal of 300 miles for him. The SIXTEEN year old is having a great race. Alex complete a full brevet series this spring and is now following in the recumbent tire tracks of his dad Keith. It’s now a given that the Kohan’s will hold two Ring of Fire records – we’re just waiting to see how many miles Alex will total.
9:34 PM Mick Walsh interview: I wasn’t going to let a wimpy little 200 miles kick my ass. Timing nature breaks with the stoker was a challenge.
We also made sure we stood up and got out of the saddle a lot.
9:31 PM Martha Walsh interview: You won the women’s division last year and now you take the tandem championship – how do they compare? Tandem was more fun. 200 miles was our goal and that’s what we got. It’s a great course – absolutely beautiful out there. I especially like the amazing course addition that I suggested thanks to Mt. Hood Cycling Classic Director Chad Sperry.
What did you do to occupy your brain while sitting in the stoker position? You try not to think about everything that hurts…and enjoy the scenery
9:28 PM Bill Nicolai joins the forum: Bill your wife left you up on the mesa yesterday and you rode to the start – explain: She landed our plane on a private landing strip…she left the engine running while I ran toward the fence with my bike. She gunned it and took off. I jumped the fence and rode down Bakeoven to the start.
Uhhhh…okay…how was your race? Hard to compare with the arrival.
9:26 PM Keith Kohan interview: So how did it feel to demolish all but one of the uprights Keith? It felt great!
Chip – what did it do to your morale to get passed by an hpv on all these hills? If he would have acted like he was pedaling it would have been okay. I was doing 320 watts downhill and he passed me coasting.
9:25 PM Chip Keyes Interview:
So…How was the race today Chip? It was my final 12 Hour race. End of story.
8:58 PM The Ring of Fire 12 is in the books! Kenneth Philbrick won the overall title with a course record 220 miles. Keizer, Oregon’s Keith Kohan piloted his HPV to a divisional record 212 miles taking second overall. Mick and Martha Walsh motored their tandem a total of 200 miles laying claim to a divisional record and third place overall. Nice to see these divisional champions taking the top three spots! Other divisional winners included women’s champ Joanne Heilinger (139), Sarah Kay Carrell (women’s recumbent 130 miles – divisional record), John Schlitter (in his umpteenth race of the year – men’s recumbent 166 miles), Bill Nicolai (men’s 60+ 158 miles) and Michael Harshbarger (men’s 50+ 141 miles).
24 Hour Update – Urs Koenig has taken a commanding lead completing 238 miles in 13 hours. The race for 2nd is close between Hugh Gapay, Tom Letsinger and Michael Wolfe. Wolfe is the leading recumbent and also the first unsupported racer. Wolfe is in a heck of a race with RAO Rookie of the Year Glenn Johnson for the RAO Grand Prize Co-Motion Espresso frameset. Wolfe needs to beat Johnson by about 40 miles to take the overall. He currently is leading Glenn by about half that distance. With 9 1/2 hours still to go this is going to be interesting!!
6PM Looks like Kenneth Philbrick will have no trouble winning the 12 hour race this year – he’s racing very well and his lap times are actually getting faster. All of the 12 hour racers have been through the start/finish. With the 24 hour race Urs seems to have the lead – he’s racing well and is very disciplined at the pit. Hugh Gapay however just came through and says that he is feeling great – he is certainly racing well.
4:00PM Urs Koening just made it in as the first 24 hour racer! This is actually 6 minutes slower than his time last year.
3PM Saturday
Baby! It’s HOT outside! Here at the start finish line at the Imperial Hotel it’s 96.6 degrees in the sun. We’ve had a number of racers coming in through the start finish – Kenneth Philbrick rode a blistering 12 hour day loop in 5:56! WOW! That is about 45 minutes faster than anything we had last year. Urs Koening is leading the 24 hour race at the moment and is probably at the turnaround on Bakeoven by now.
All the racers look great – let me get some updates down and I get to the race news.
Into TS 3 Mile 83
Urs K 11:37
Hugh G. 11:47
Kenneth P. 11:45
Ben Larson 11:50
Tom Letsinger 11:51
Michael W. 11:54
Alex K. 12:00
Keith K. 12:03
Glenn J. 12:10
Chip Keyes 12:10
Mark N. 12:12
Mick/Martha Walsh 12:22
John H. M. 12:32
Mike R. 12:34
John S. 1:10
Sandy E. 1:10
Bill N. 1:44
JoAnne 2:03
Jay R2:07
Michael H. 2:20
Sara Kay 2:45
Into TS 2 mile 53
Urs K. 10:03
Hugh G. 10:03
Tom Letstinger 10:07
Kenneth P. 10:12
Ben Larson 10:14
Michael Wolfe 10:15
Chip Keyes 10:21
Glenn Johnson 10:21
Keith K. 10:27
Mark Newsome 10:27
Mike Rogers 10:30
| Racer | Start Time | Elasped Time | Miles So Far | Avg. MPH | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24-Hour Solo Racers (men) | |||||
| Urs Koenig | 6:43 a.m. | 24:00:00 | 414 | 17.25 | |
| Michael Wolfe | 6:40 a.m. | 24:00:00 | 392 | 16.45 | |
| Tom Letsinger | 6:39 a.m. | 24:00:00 | 373 | 15.54 | |
| Hugh Gapay | 6:42 a.m. | 24:00:00 | 361 | 15.17 | |
| Glenn Johnson | 6:41 a.m. | 24:00:00 | 347 | 14.46 | |
| Alex Kohan | 6:38 a.m. | 24:00:00 | 265 | 11.04 | |
| John Henry Maurice | 6:36 a.m. | 24:00:00 | 211 | 8.79 | |
| Mark Newsome | 6:37 a.m. | 24:00:00 | 184 | 7.67 | 24-Hour Solo Racers (women) |
| Sandy Earl | 6:35 a.m. | 24:00:00 | 282 | 11.75 | 12-Hour Racers (men) |
| Kenneth Philbrick | 7:11 a.m. | 12:00:00 | 220 | 18.33 | |
| Keith Kohan | 7:07 a.m. | 12:00:00 | 212 | 17.67 | |
| Ben Larson | 7:09 a.m. | 12:00:00 | 197 | 16.42 | |
| Chip Keyes | 7:06 a.m. | 12:00:00 | 192 | 16.00 | |
| John Schlitter | 7:13a.m. | 12:00:00 | 166 | 13.83 | |
| Bill Nicolai | 7:04 a.m. | 12:00:00 | 158 | 13.17 | |
| Michael Harshbarger | 7:02 a.m. | 12:00:00 | 141 | 11.75 | |
| Jay Rideout | 7:03 a.m. | 12:00:00 | 139 | 11:58 | |
| Mike Rogers | 7:05 a.m. | 12:00:00 | 114 | 9.5 | |
| Gregg Geser | 7:08 a.m. | DNS | |||
| Saunders Whittlesey | 7:10 a.m. | DNS | 12-Hour Racers (women) | ||
| Joanne Heilinger | 7:00 a.m. | 12:00:00 | 139 | 11:58 | |
| Sarah Kay Carrell | 7:01 a.m. | 12:00:00 | 130 | 10.83 | |
| 12-Hour Tandem (mixed) | |||||
| Mick and Martha Walsh | 7:12 a.m. | 12:00:00 | 200 | 16.67 | |