Youngest rider reflects on Dakota Five-O
Posted: Thursday, September 04, 2008
SPEARFISH, S.D. (AP) -- At 5:30 p.m. Sunday, nearly 290 competitors and riders in the Dakota Five-O had their bellies filled and were relaxing in the Spearfish City Park, hoping that their name would be called to receive a prize.
A car beeped its horn and an applause began to crescendo throughout the crowd. Weary riders stood to recognize Timo Schacht, the youngest competitor -- let alone finisher -- of the 50-mile race, as he crossed the finish line 10 hours, 6 minutes and 52 seconds after he started.
"That was big," Timo said. "That was the longest I've ever rode before."
The youngest rider to compete previously was 13 years old.
"He is an amazing rider for a young kid," Perry Jewett, the event organizer, said of Timo. "He has an amazing spirit and is in it for the long distance. He likes to ride hard. He goes for long rides. I would never consider letting an 8-year-old on this 50-mile course.
"But I know Timo. I didn't think he could do it, but he did it. I hate to doubt an amazing rider, but it is quite a feat for an 8-year-old."
But not all riders doubted the youngster's chance at finishing the race. His dad and riding partner said his son prepared ahead of the race.
"I'm not surprised. He did a lot of hard work over the summer," Mike Schacht said. "We've been riding 40-, 60-, 70-mile weeks on all kinds of surfaces. I told him he would have to do that or I wouldn't let him run in the race. I'm proud that he did the work and the race, but I'm not surprised that he did it."
Timo participated in the Tinton Trail Time Trial and Super D this year, so he knew a portion of the trail. Farther along the grueling Five-O route, he began to tire and thought about calling it quits.
"We almost quit a little farther than halfway through," said Timo, who's from Fort Meade. "We were at the Iron Creek aid station. I decided to quit. I was too tired to go any farther because every time I went over a bump, I couldn't hold my muscles tight enough. I would shake and it would hurt a lot.
"But then when we were just about to leave on the road to ride back we decided we should keep going and finish."
His dad also recalled the ride to the Iron Cree aid station.
"We had a pretty hard time getting to the Baldy aid station, which is right before that," he said. "The trail between Baldy and Iron Creek is the worst part. Going down is like going down a staircase. It's rough, there were rocks all over the place, so we really got beat up. We worried that if the rest was going to be like that we would have a hard time."
That was approximately 30 miles in.
Earlier in the day, the young and energetic Timo was ahead of his dad.
"It started early being a lot of work," Mike said. "We climbed up the first part of the trail, which is the Tinton Trail hill climb, which he did previously in about an hour and 40 minutes. This time, according to my plan it should have taken about that long, but he did it in 20 minutes less.
"He was pushing right from the beginning. I was little behind him at the time and when we got to the first aid station, it turned out that he didn't stop. He just blasted right through that. The guys were laughing about it, telling me, 'You better go chase him down or you are going to lose him."'
From there, the trail got more difficult for the duo.
"There were so many times that we were ready to fall over," Mike said. "We were so tired that we couldn't have stood up if we would have got off our bikes. Timo said, 'I'm really tired,' then he got out of his saddle and starts climbing up a hill, so as much as he said he was sore and tired he still had power to spare."
Timo began riding mountain bikes about three years ago at the onset of the Tinton Trail races. Since that time he has wanted to compete in the Five-O.
"I only did it to impress Perry," Timo said.
During the Tinton Trail races Timo held back, Mike said.
"Actually I thought he was kind of a wuss when he did those," Mike said. "Last year when he did the Tinton Trail he crashed on the way down, so this time, during the downhill he was a little leery of it.
"On the other hand, when we went down the Tinton at the end of the Five-O, he was a lot better than at the beginning of the year. He's gotten a lot better in the past couple months, so if he does it again next year, I think we will see a lot of improvement."
The two have ridden all summer and have even completed a 45-mile ride to Rapid City on road bikes, which was previously Timo's longest ride.
In 2007 Timo and Mike watched the Dakota Five-O and Timo announced that he wanted to compete this year.
"It was certainly a lot of work, but I'm not surprised that he did it," Mike said. "He has been working pretty hard all summer getting ready for it. It turned out to be harder than we were expecting. The trail conditions were so crazy, but if figured he could do it. Everywhere you go there are branches and boulders. It's not like riding down the bike trail."
With more than 40 miles behind the two, they headed down the last leg of the race.
"Finally after we got back on the Tinton Trail and started going down hill, that was the best I ever saw him ride," Mike said. "And that was when I was so worried about him being too tired and that he would crash and get hurt."
When Timo and his dad approached the finish line, many of the riders could not believe such a young kid had completed the ride.
"We've been waiting for this all year. We've been training. It's been really fun," Timo said.
He added that it was only because his dad helped him train that he was able to finish the race.
"I think it's really cool," Timo said. "Really, really, really cool."
A car beeped its horn and an applause began to crescendo throughout the crowd. Weary riders stood to recognize Timo Schacht, the youngest competitor -- let alone finisher -- of the 50-mile race, as he crossed the finish line 10 hours, 6 minutes and 52 seconds after he started.
"That was big," Timo said. "That was the longest I've ever rode before."
The youngest rider to compete previously was 13 years old.
"He is an amazing rider for a young kid," Perry Jewett, the event organizer, said of Timo. "He has an amazing spirit and is in it for the long distance. He likes to ride hard. He goes for long rides. I would never consider letting an 8-year-old on this 50-mile course.
"But I know Timo. I didn't think he could do it, but he did it. I hate to doubt an amazing rider, but it is quite a feat for an 8-year-old."
But not all riders doubted the youngster's chance at finishing the race. His dad and riding partner said his son prepared ahead of the race.
"I'm not surprised. He did a lot of hard work over the summer," Mike Schacht said. "We've been riding 40-, 60-, 70-mile weeks on all kinds of surfaces. I told him he would have to do that or I wouldn't let him run in the race. I'm proud that he did the work and the race, but I'm not surprised that he did it."
Timo participated in the Tinton Trail Time Trial and Super D this year, so he knew a portion of the trail. Farther along the grueling Five-O route, he began to tire and thought about calling it quits.
"We almost quit a little farther than halfway through," said Timo, who's from Fort Meade. "We were at the Iron Creek aid station. I decided to quit. I was too tired to go any farther because every time I went over a bump, I couldn't hold my muscles tight enough. I would shake and it would hurt a lot.
"But then when we were just about to leave on the road to ride back we decided we should keep going and finish."
His dad also recalled the ride to the Iron Cree aid station.
"We had a pretty hard time getting to the Baldy aid station, which is right before that," he said. "The trail between Baldy and Iron Creek is the worst part. Going down is like going down a staircase. It's rough, there were rocks all over the place, so we really got beat up. We worried that if the rest was going to be like that we would have a hard time."
That was approximately 30 miles in.
Earlier in the day, the young and energetic Timo was ahead of his dad.
"It started early being a lot of work," Mike said. "We climbed up the first part of the trail, which is the Tinton Trail hill climb, which he did previously in about an hour and 40 minutes. This time, according to my plan it should have taken about that long, but he did it in 20 minutes less.
"He was pushing right from the beginning. I was little behind him at the time and when we got to the first aid station, it turned out that he didn't stop. He just blasted right through that. The guys were laughing about it, telling me, 'You better go chase him down or you are going to lose him."'
From there, the trail got more difficult for the duo.
"There were so many times that we were ready to fall over," Mike said. "We were so tired that we couldn't have stood up if we would have got off our bikes. Timo said, 'I'm really tired,' then he got out of his saddle and starts climbing up a hill, so as much as he said he was sore and tired he still had power to spare."
Timo began riding mountain bikes about three years ago at the onset of the Tinton Trail races. Since that time he has wanted to compete in the Five-O.
"I only did it to impress Perry," Timo said.
During the Tinton Trail races Timo held back, Mike said.
"Actually I thought he was kind of a wuss when he did those," Mike said. "Last year when he did the Tinton Trail he crashed on the way down, so this time, during the downhill he was a little leery of it.
"On the other hand, when we went down the Tinton at the end of the Five-O, he was a lot better than at the beginning of the year. He's gotten a lot better in the past couple months, so if he does it again next year, I think we will see a lot of improvement."
The two have ridden all summer and have even completed a 45-mile ride to Rapid City on road bikes, which was previously Timo's longest ride.
In 2007 Timo and Mike watched the Dakota Five-O and Timo announced that he wanted to compete this year.
"It was certainly a lot of work, but I'm not surprised that he did it," Mike said. "He has been working pretty hard all summer getting ready for it. It turned out to be harder than we were expecting. The trail conditions were so crazy, but if figured he could do it. Everywhere you go there are branches and boulders. It's not like riding down the bike trail."
With more than 40 miles behind the two, they headed down the last leg of the race.
"Finally after we got back on the Tinton Trail and started going down hill, that was the best I ever saw him ride," Mike said. "And that was when I was so worried about him being too tired and that he would crash and get hurt."
When Timo and his dad approached the finish line, many of the riders could not believe such a young kid had completed the ride.
"We've been waiting for this all year. We've been training. It's been really fun," Timo said.
He added that it was only because his dad helped him train that he was able to finish the race.
"I think it's really cool," Timo said. "Really, really, really cool."
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Stephanie wrote on Sep 4, 2008 11:02 PM:
He is a very focused and dedicated young man and truly an inspiration!!! "