Garage Racing made a strong showing at Masters Nationals in Bend, Oregon last week and are returning with a number of high placings from many hotly contested races. Nearly a full week in Bend gave ample time to earn stars & stripes for the following individuals:

• Robert Powell: Gnocchi making for the team dinner. Silver to Alex for supporting the local economy with the purchase of the gnocchi paddles.
  
• Mike Burdo: DVD rental choice: Arthur. Have you ever tried white truffle gelato? Silver to Nikos for having the endurance to sit through the whole movie.
  
• John Sindell: Burger flipping with a back two-and-a-half somersault tuck between the grill grate into the ashes. In the next day's burger flipping, Kyle's forward straight dive earned silver.
• Kevin Masterson: Apple pancakes, plain and simple. Nikos's broiled & seasoned potatoes took silver.
  
• Alex Rosenast: sufficiently confusing a waitress while ordering a margarita. The team didn't even have a chance to attack the waitress with "is that organic?" or "can you substitute whole wheat for the corn tortillas?" before Alex put forth his solo attack to take the gold.
  
• Kyle Farrell: Tri-berry smoothies. The claim "the shit that makes you fast" is a misnomer; consumption proved the expletive should be used as a verb and not a noun.
• David & John Hills on synchronized swimming in the feed zone. Unfortunately they were desynchronized on the water bottle handoff.

Really though, the team had some impressive results. Time trials: 7th place for Kyle Farrell and John Sindell 11th in the 35-39 group, Robert Powell 20th in 40-44, and Alex Rosenast 25th in 45-49. Crit results had the team mid-pack. I believe we were all saving it for the primes. Post-race we realized that there weren't any primes.

The road race on the Aubrey Butte Circuit course had solid results, albeit no hardware. Mike Burdo 15th in 55-59, David Hills took 24th in the 50-54 race, Nikos Mills 8th in 45-49, John Sindell 11th in 35-39, and Zach Jones 23rd in 30-34 (after pulling the field around for two laps!). Expect the team to show up to Bend for 2012 Nationals where we're sure to invent a bunch of new categories to medal in.

In local Masters news, Aaron Berntson took the season overall at Marymoor. The Wednesday night track competition was a Godzilla versus Mothra spectacle up til the last race of the omnium between Aaron and Jim Flynn (Keller-Rohrback). Aaron won the final points race, placing second in the night's omnium to teammate Tom Wick, and taking the overall for the season for Wednesday night. (side note: I'm not sure which one is Godzilla or Mothra...just recycling one of many quotes from the crit announcer at Nationals!)