NOVA National Arizona Racing

[Von-Skipp]

This weekend the NOVA National Stage race came to McDowell in Arizona.

I competed in the Sport 19-29 Stage race which consisted of SUPER D and CROSS COUNTRY

SUPER D Friday afternoon

I don't have any pics from Super D yet. The format of Super D is time trial with 10 second interval.

The course was 6.4 miles of singletrack mostly downhill. Nothing technical just super fast with some slippery turns. The course even had some climbing that I did not expect so that was painfull. I passed a couple bubbs on the course but almost got passed on the last uphill finish. He was drafting me for a while which bugged me, but I never gave him room to pass.

I finished with a time 19:54 and took 3rd place.

CROSS COUNTRY Saturday morning

The cross counrtry course for sport was 20 miles with 1,450 feet of ascent. I had a clean race. Well I did brush up into some cactus as some guy tried to pass me but ending up hitting me with his shoulder.

I finished the course in 1:32 and took 4th place.

For the overall stage race I took second place for age group Sport.

Start of XC






comming in from lap 1




starting lap 2


FINISH




accepting 4th place medal from the nug




Also met a bunch of pro riders. And it was cool to see a bunch of old friends from California and the guys on Team Flow.

[tkblazer]

congrats matt, also take those html tags off your links

[Koke]

Nice job Matt! I only got one photo of you as you started your second lap. The second photo is a crash in the expert class short track event's first corner (cactus everywhere).

[Knuckledragger]

Sick!

I wanted to go so damn bad. I raced that course in the old Cactus cup days.... Shite hit the fan and oh well, I guess there is next year.

Congrat's

C.K.

[Von-Skipp]

Thanks for the pic KOKE. How did the others guy do this weekend? How is Chris too?

I had to miss Sunday because I was doing the IronMan swim.

[Koke]

Originally Posted by Von-Skipp

How did the others guy do this weekend? How is Chris too?

Chris never went to the ER and felt better after a couple of hours. He ended up 5th in the stage race because he won the Super D.

Jerry, David and Mike all finished mid-pack for XC (major bonk for David). Not enough climbing on that course for those guys to have an advantage.

[zerordl]

What happened to Chris?

Originally Posted by Koke

Chris never went to the ER and felt better after a couple of hours. He ended up 5th in the stage race because he won the Super D.

Jerry, David and Mike all finished mid-pack for XC (major bonk for David). Not enough climbing on that course for those guys to have an advantage.

[Koke]

Originally Posted by zerordl

What happened to Chris?

He crashed on his second lap (3 or 4 miles from the finish) and landed on some large, sharp, embedded rocks. His hip and side took the brunt of it, the EMT thought he fractured his pelvis.

He lit up the Super D the day before. I think his sport class time was faster than all other sport class riders and expert class riders and would have been good for 8th place in semi-pro (out of more than 40 semi-pros).

Below is a picture of him starting his second lap.

[Von-Skipp]

Yeah that blows he went down.

I thought I had a good time of 19:54 for Super D. Then Chris tells us he had 18!!

As for XC we started together in same group. He was leading the pack for a while. Then I dropped too far back to see. I thought he was gona place first in XC.

About 3 miles from the end I pass him standing by his bike and thought oh shit.


The racing is way different in AZ than in CA. You guys all train on long hill climbs which we don't have. You gota be fast on the flats and know how to handle the tight turns.

[Pain Freak]

Matt, we don't accept anything but a first for our California Kid!

Now get back out there and kick some arse!

Must of been some really good riders out there.

Nice kit! Sporting the lycra. I bet it makes Bret cringe. How'd you do in the swim?

[Von-Skipp]

Originally Posted by Pain Freak

Matt, we don't accept anything but a first for our California Kid!

Now get back out there and kick some arse!

Must of been some really good riders out there.

Nice kit! Sporting the lycra. I bet it makes Bret cringe. How'd you do in the swim?

I rocked the swim!! It was an Ironman distance swim, 2.4 miles. The swim is the same course for Ironman AZ here next Sunday. So I was basically competing against Ironman athletes.

I came in 41st out of 390 swimmers. And took third 3 place for my age group. My time was 59 minutes.

Im in there somewhere....