Ekim showed extreme promise at last year’s Big Bear 24hr race by arriving with two ankles swollen to twice their normal size.  Everyone felt he would have double the power and really make a mark on the course.  But to everyone’s surprise, Ekim made more marks in his pants than on the race course.  With completing only two laps…the second taking over 12 hours, fans were very disappointed.  Turns out that Ekim’s training routine of eating greasy pizza and drinking large amounts of beer did not pay off as well as he had hoped.  Couple that with the fact that the first time he had ridden a Mt. Bike that season was the pre-ride the day before the race and the fact he had a nasty infection in both his legs (hence the swollen ankles), it was apparent that the alternative training routine and lack of doctor visits was not going to pay off.  When asked about the risky training routine Ekim replied with “Who would have thought it wouldn’t have worked”.  

This year Ekim is back and in much better form.  He has changed his training routine to include riding a bike at least once per week and looking at his bike at least 3 times per week.  He has also changed to eating greasy pizza and drinking large amounts of beer after his rides.  “This year I am shooting for sub 5 hour laps” Ekim stated enthusiastically.   Ekim said he would like to thank his team mates for supporting him in his lack luster performance race or no race, his weekly riding group for letting him run his mouth full time while waiting for him at the top of the hills and his wife for putting up with all his crap.