MetaChat - is it ok to brag about my friend Eszter here?

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13 October 2009

is it ok to brag about my friend Eszter here? →[More:]
the mister and I just got back from ten days of camping in the bush of the Four Corners region. At the end of the trip, we made a 2-day stop to help support our good friend Eszter at the 24 hours of Moab.

Here is her story, written in her words because she tells it so much better than I could.

she is fucking amazing. That course is STUPID hard, 15 miles long, and she rode 13 laps of it.

Something she didn't mention there is that this was her first ever 24 hour event, ever, and she rode it solo.

and in a small triumph of mojo over technology, this proves that 9 random hipsters (ok hippies, too) can trump all those big WE R SERIUS PRO squads with their fancy 40' climate-controlled RVs and sound systems and spare bikes and chefs and soigneurs and charging stations and whatnot.

Fuck that noise anyway, we built a BERM! And made toasted marshmallow-Nutella smores, and boomed the bumping tracks on the iPod boombox, whilst we staged an impromptu allnight rave complete with glow sticks and fire spinners and tinsel and faerie-lit umbrellas and the Fabulous Rotating Orange Sparkly Pants -- whose task it was to be worn by a different team member every lap when we did the Safety Dance.

enjoy -- lfr

post by: lonefrontranger at: 20:12 | 11 comments

that's fricking rad. cheers to eszter!

posted by YouCanCallMeAl 13 October | 21:05

That is totes awesome and amazing. Sound like you guys had a blast, and tell your friend that some people from the internet love her and think she's awesome. Just finishing that shit is incredible, but winning? Mazel tov!

posted by kyleg 13 October | 23:03

Cheers, Al and kyleg -- Eszter is my hero partly because 2 years ago she was an ordinary, obscure middle rank bike racer who just up and decided to really work at it.

The thing that is incredibly inspiring to me is that Eszter has somehow managed to pull this off whilst finishing her final year of grad school as a MechE. And since actually graduating is more of a priority for her than bike racing, she can't afford to travel a lot outside regional circles or do many high profile events, which creates the typical Catch-22 pit of obscurity; i.e. she doesn't get a ton of support from the bike racing industry beyond free or cheap gear from some sponsors because (well up until now) she's been off the radar. Some of those other chicks she raced against get, god forbid, paid salaries to do this crazy shit. Eszter still works part time as a bike messenger.

I think the dishevelled homemade Waltworks flag (craft foam + hotglue FTW!!) there in the last pic on her blog entry kind of sums it up. I personally duct taped that sucker back together twice and we mounted it on an old avalanche probe in the campsite.

posted by lonefrontranger 14 October | 01:27

What an awesome story!

posted by gomichild 14 October | 01:45

A remarkable achievement!

posted by Ardiril 14 October | 02:34

Goddamn. I'm tearing up because once I realized she wasn't just a weekend road warrior but a pro and she won and lfr's addendum stuck me hard and I am so freaking proud to know of her and damn...

It can't be that time of the month. Why am I crying tears of happiness for someone I don't know?

posted by TrishaLynn 14 October | 09:29

Very cool and inspiring. Maybe I can do a race like this someday. Do they have a category for old and decrepit riders? ;)

posted by dhartung 14 October | 09:41

dhartung, yes they do! Here's a link to info on that!!

TrishaLynn, I understand. i'm your classic cynical old hipster gal and I absolutely broke down when RedCoat and Greg did the final calculations and told me that Eszter had won and that it was mathematically impossible for anyone to catch her.

Turns out, had she gone on past 9.30 AM and completed the potential 2 more laps she was on pace for, she would have made the MEN'S pro solo podium. That is some holy shit material right there.

posted by lonefrontranger 14 October | 10:03

Awesome story lfr!

dhartung, when I was first starting at cycling back in my early teens, there was a guy in town who had the nickname "Foxy Grandpa". He was well in his '70s, and competing in the time trial at the national level in his age class, and he'd win every year. I remember when he moved on to the next age class (75-80 or something), and they asked him about it, and he said he was glad 'cause he felt the youngsters (70-75) coming in breathing down his neck. He was a neat guy who always had a smile on his face, and we'd see him out on the road a lot on training rides. So yeah, there's a category for old guys, decrepit or not.

posted by eekacat 14 October | 10:04

lfr: You need to make me stop crying at work. Seriously. It's a little embarassing. No, it's not.

posted by TrishaLynn 14 October | 11:38

Hey lfr, it took me a few days to get around to reading this, but I'm glad I did. That's fantastic. Cheers for Eszter and all the rest of you too.

posted by tangerine 16 October | 12:06

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