Darin Paoli gave us the heads up on this clip from local OK news featuring Steve Tilford and Catherine Walberg at the Twelve Miles of Hell last weekend. Click on 'read more' for Darin's review:
"…Here is a link to a story on the 12 Miles of Hell mountain bike race in Lawton Oklahoma that was run on Sunday. It's a 700 plus person mass start over very difficult rocky trail, lung busting climbs and just all around tough terrain on the Fort Sill Army Base in Lawton Oklahoma. As far as I know there are no cash prizes for winning this event so everyone there is for the love of mountain biking drawing some top riders from around the area. There are also hundreds of spectators that line the trail to watch and cheer you on. I went down with local racers from the Bike Source Mountain Bike Team Jon Martinez and company. The pre ride day was on Saturday and starting all at once was me Jon Martinez, Doug Long, Lyle Reidy and the rest of the Bike Source mountain bike team. Also starting the pre ride at the same time us were Steve Tilford, Cameron Chambers and his group along with countless other folks that are very fast on the fat tires from around the Kansas/Missouri area. Race day saw the same folk’s line up in the front as past winners of the event. I have done this event in the past but this one seemed special because it was harder than years past. I must say it was a very cool event and experience getting to pre ride the day before around these guys. After the race Jon Martinez stated "this was hardest race I have ever done even at only 17.5 miles". He was on a single speed though getting 6th in the single speed class. I even heard Steve Tilford make a few comments about the trail and how difficult it is. I have to agree with John and I was on a geared bike. I was doing pretty good running in the top 40 riders or so until I did an endo over the handle bars at about 11 miles in bashed up my knee and broke my front brake. It was very hard to ride this place with only one brake and lost several spots. I ended up 15th in my class and the 103 rider across the line out of 700 plus and I don’t think I need to tell you who won the over all. The final results are not posted yet but I know the locals did very well. This was the last year of the event under the 12 Miles of Hell name and year 20 of the event. There was one guy racing that had done all 20 years and he got a special award. Next year it’s going to be a new group putting on the race. Enjoy the clip. Darin "