Rim Nordic Just XC, and CARNAGE!

[maxwell]

Yeah, man it was FUN!!

Lacey and I only did the XC race today, maybe we'll hit the other races next year.

This was the first time at any of the races that we've done together, that we actually started at the same time.
She was the only girl in her age group, and I had a total of 5 in the Cydes class.
Man, she took off with the group at the start like she was on fire!
Once we settled into the first climb, I just tryed to focus on the guy in fouth in my group, with Lacey just ahead of him. Well, she hit a group of rocks on the climb and got stalled, and Ben jumped of his bike and started running up the climb. I road it, passed Lacey, and gained some ground on him. I've raced him quite a few times before, and knew that he's not to great on the DH. To make a long story a "little" shorter, I stayed right behind him on the decent, and was able to pass him on the next couple of climbs!
I reached the top fireroad before him, and thought for sure that he'd catch me. It didn't happen!
Man, I was feeling GOOD!! I hit the fun, tech DH section really flowing! Made a couple of the switchbacks, which is good for me, and hit the following DH section of fireroad going fast, and feeling GREAT!
I was finishing my first lap in fourth, and felt like I may be able to reach third.
If you know anything about me, I'll bet you can guess what happens next.....
I'm comming around the last turn to the finishing area, and there is this kinda big, embeded rock in the ground. I've seen people hit it and get some distance, and look REALLY cool while doing it. I've always just kinda ridden over it. Never pulled up, just rode over it.
Until today!
I hit that sucker going fast, and pulled up!
Right foot comes unclipped, in the air, I land leaning left, and land HARD on the loose rocks all over the ground!
I hear the crowd going wild!! I give'm a big WOW, jump back on my bike, and try to get started again.
First thing I notice is that my left heel is sore. Then the carnage on my left knee and elbow, make themselves known. I try for a drink of water out of my pack, and my darn hose has come undone.
Well, I can deal with the soreness, and scrapes, but I'm NOT doing another lap without water. As I'm fixing my bladder, Ben goes riding by! That means Lacey is comming too!
I get back on, and start climbing again, but somethings wrong with my left pedal, I can't get clipped in! I kept on climbing with just my right foot clipped in, and by the time I got to the top fireroad climb, I was feeling like CRAP!
So, I get off, look at my pedal, and see that I've broken the engagement spring on my Candies!
I got down the tech DH section without any misshaps, and walk most of the switchbacks.
That's when IT happened!
Sean Donovan comes zipping out of the switchbacks on his first lap, and guess who's just 10 yards behind him?

LACEY!!

She comes riding down, and see's me, and I yelled, "keep going, you're doing great"!
I got back on and tryed to catch her, thinking it would be cool to finish with her. I never saw her again until I finished.

She BEAT me by two minutes!!

It was a really FUN day!!
It was great to see SScheetz, and his Coats Cyclery Team out there again. The guy is freaki'n FAST!

I only got a picture of Lacey on the podium, and she was nice enough to get a couple of shots of my carnage.
Who say's downhillers get to have all of the FUN?!

"She's only gonna get faster"......... OMR




I AM "CRASH" MAXWELL!!

[genusmtbkr5]

Great story, wish I could've been there to see it, after reading your post, I almost could! Thanks Crash! Way to go Lacey!

[STP]

Heya Maxwell, glad you had a great time out there at Rim Nordic. The crowd is always friendly and laid back. The whole atmosphere is relaxed, but the competition is intense! Make sure you scrub all the dirt out of that rash!

My race weekend? Got back to my girlfrieds cabin [FONT=Arial]at 9 PM and fortunately, it is cooler than usual at Big Bear. I rush to open all the windows and get everything ready. At 10 PM, we're in bed, but I forgot to take my restless legs meds at 9 AM. I am so sc re w ed. I cannot go to sleep for nothing. At 11:30, I bail out and go sleep upstairs. Midnight rolls by and I believe I fall asleep, but am up at 4 AM and 5 AM. Get up at 6 AM for our prerace prep to head out. So I maybe got 4 to 5 hours of sleep.[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]At the race, I feel OK, not bad. I line up with my main competetion, Jeff Volpe (who's great people and who I duked it out with on Saturday's Dirt Crit). Arnie Fernandez, who I'm toe-to-toe with in the SoCal State series is there too. At the start, Arnie and I are actually, but non-agressively, pushing against each other at the first turn and going shoulder-to-shoulder through the first corner. I squeak ahead and we start heading up the canyon, I let Jeff lead and in retrospect, I should've just taken it.. We're going up the first canyon, with me in second and I'm already in trouble. We go back down the chute and start heading up a different canyon. We're not going up the long singletrack, but the canyon in between. I have the whole pack on my behind and I start geeking it through the rocks. I am embarassed and that adds more weight to the stress. I am dabbing and pushing the bike up through the rocks and it just builds. At the top, I get passed for third place, by Jeff's teammate. Arnie Fernandez is on my behind at the fireroad. He's on my behind for the whole descent.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]At the bottom, I am sick of being stressed and I just say to heck with it and relax. The strength starts coming back. I feel better and start going really good up the canyon. Arnie's still there, when we head up the second canyon, and this time, I nearly clean the rocks. We hook into the second half of the long singletrack climb and I get by three riders. They let me by, but at the worst section towards the top, there's no where to pull over and Arnie gets stuck behind them. I put a good gap on him and at the fireroad, I put it in the big ring and am determined to catch second place. I haul down the mountain, with no Arnie in sight. I finish third and get an overall second for the stage race. I got to witness a really good battle a mile from the end in the young buck class (J), 16 and under. The AFP rider put a good pass on the Incycle youth and they finished within one second of each other. I pounded across the line, not far behind them.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[SIZE=2][FONT=Arial]I am still coughing up chunks of dirt out of my lungs this morning, from Saturday's race! Next race, I am looking way forward to![/FONT][/SIZE]

[allison]

Congrats to Lacey! I know who to stay behind racing XC next season at Fontana

[guero]

great write up darin, very descriptive, felt like i was there watching the race! congrats to lacey and to you for keeping it real by throwing in some style and then crashing, haha!