09/22/2006 Team

Nat Ross Wins 24 Hours of Landahl

Nat Ross, Subaru-Gary Fisher Endurance Rider, recently won the 24 Hours of Landahl event in Blue Springs, Missouri. This is his second 24 hour victory in the Granny Gear series this year. His first victory was at 24 hours of Temecula earlier this year.

2006 was the first year Landahl was a part of the Granny Gear series. The course was 11 miles of tight and fast singletrack. The singletrack was so tight that Nat was forced to chop off a ½Â” on each end of his handlebars and remove the endbars so as not to get hooked on any trees.

Nat started the race fast. During daylight he was running laps anywhere from 0:58 to 1:04. He was the only solo man to finish a lap in under an hour. Once the sun started dipping, Nat stayed faster than the competition with 1:12 to 1:22 lap times, meanwhile, the other solo men were starting to drop or running 1:30 lap times.

Somewhere around the 13th lap the weather turned nasty and soaked the course. With a solid lead, Nat headed in for a change of clothes, some food, and to catch some sleep so he could finish strong. After that break, Nat headed back out for a few more laps on the now muddy trails.

At the end of the race Nat cruised into first with 16 solo laps in 24 hours 3 seconds. His closest competitor was Ernesto Marenchin who finished one lap behind in 25 hours 17 seconds. With this win, Nat is poised to be a top contender for the Granny Gear series title. The final race is 24 Hours of Moab on Oct 14 and 15.

Also representing Subaru-Gary Fisher at Landahl was fellow endurance rider, Cameron Chambers. Cameron was running with a 4-man single speed, rigid team. His crew of tough guys finished 15 laps on their unforgiving rides and finished first in their category.

Stay tuned for more updates from the 24-hour scene and other races as the season rolls on.