RR: Fred cleaned house at Bellflower last night!!

[HUGH]

Nothing exciting happened in the way of crashing. Fred's heat races were a little slopy. Won one and Lost one.
Then the finals rolled around!! Fred hooked it up! His gate was perfect and the drag race to the first corner was Fred in first place all the way! Half way down the second straight it was Fred in the lead by huge amount. Into the third straight the competiton was for second place as Fred was untouchable all the way to the finishline!!
Way to go man!!

HUGH

[ezzyride]

Congrats Fred!!!

Wish I could have been there for this one.

-Elvia

[denmother]

You da man!!!!

[Dino Brown]

Freddie's 1st BMX Finals victory in over 20 years!

[denmother]

What class did you race and how many did you spank?

[mtnbikerfred]

36-40 Cruiser. It was a total points race. Just me and two other guys, one of which I don't know well. The other I know only too well. "Da G Ryde" is NOT someone I usually think I can beat. Most of the time I'm honored to follow the guys I race around the track.

Work/travel had me off the bike for a couple of weeks and it showed. I rode Orange last Wednesday and despite allot of pressure to sign up (to split the classes), I was in no shape to race. I really wasn't feeling great at first last night. I guess "G" wasn't either. I just got better as the night went on.

[2wheel_lee]

Right on Fred! Congratulations!
G is a very strong and powerful rider, and he's still super fast on his bad days.

I'll be back at the track sometime soon. Maybe next Monday I'll make it to Bellflower.

[Draheim18]

Congrats Fred

[Dino Brown]

Every Monday a group of us get together at Bellflower BMX for an evening of fun and laughs.
With the 2008 State BMX Racing season having just ended, I was expecting our crew to start thinning out. Thankfully, that has not been the case.

I learned a few "lessons" last night.
Lesson 1: You can be friends with your competitors.
It continues to amaze me how friendly the competitors are towards one another.
It seems as though the guys you are racing with turn out to be your best friends. They are the people who lend a helping hand. They are also the one's giving you advice on how to beat them.

Lesson 2: Winning isn't everything
* First turn of a qualifying race: Two competitors locked bars. One guy went down pretty hard. The man who was in 1st place (and clear of the crash), turned his bike around to check on his injured friend. The two riders (eventually) crossed the finish line together- in last place.
* Two teenage BMX phenoms (the two fastest riders at the track) allowed one of their competitors to finish ahead of them in a heat race. I believed they were rewarding the rider for trying soooo hard and improving soooo much over the Summer! The guys who finished 2nd and 3rd were happier than the kid who finished first! You had to be there!!!
* Julia decided she did not want to race. When her competitors (i.e. teenage boys) heard the news, they rode over to her and pretty much told her she WAS going to race. Her friends (not her competitors) wanted Julia to join them. What did she do? She proceeded to finish 2nd in the finals race- ahead of both of them! Were the boys upset? No! Were these three friends just happy to be racing one another? Oh yeah!

Lesson 3: With a little hard work, ANYTHING is possible!
*Julia: What can I say. She is a very strong XC rider. She was the only kid to complete the 2008 POLES CLIMB! She is a 4X champion. Now she has set her eyes on BMX. After only a few short months of HARD WORK, who would have guessed she would have finished in 5th Place at the California State BMX Championships. One thing I failed to mention, she was racing with the BOYS!
Last night, I noticed something. Julia has NOTICEABLY narrowed the gap between the 1st Place kid and the rest of the group. I don't know if she will ever take him, I do know he will have to earn his victories from now on! Julia. See what happens when you push yourself?
*Freddie: 1st BMX Finals Victory in over 20 years!
The improvements Freddie has made in a few short months in nothing short of astounding.
Freddie has always been fast. Now he is really fast. The thing I noticed about Freddie, he doesn't take practice runs, he takes learning runs! Gate starts, fighting for the lead at the first turn, manualing, clearing doubles, the whoop section, the last turn, counting pedal strokes- All done for one reason.... To make him faster!

In my opinion, Fred's races are won and lost at the start!
He is so powerful out of the gate, he sometimes struggles for the first 50 feet. In one of his qualifiers, he had a less than memorable start. The end result was a poor finish. His other qualifier was... better! His improved start resulted in a 1st Place finish!

Freddie saved the best for last! As soon as the gate dropped, we all KNEW Freddie would be victorious. He timed the gate perfectly. He was a full bike length ahead of everyone at the bottom on the gate. He had extended that lead by the time everyone reached the first table top. By the time Fred had exited the first turn, the race was officially OVER! With each pedal stroke, the lead grew. His competitors could pedal as hard as they wanted to... They weren't going to catch him.

Congratulations Freddie and Julia!
We are all VERY proud of you.

[mfoga]

Congrats Fred and Julia,

But the real question is did Fred look in control? He seems fastest when looks out of control.

I had hoped to get out there but had way to much to get done after Mammoth trip and before leaving again for work(although you wont hear me complain about this trip)

[Tmac]

Way to go Fred and Julia, you both did awesome.

If was great to get out there and ride with you guys. Maybe after a few more weeks/months of practice I will be able to hang on to your rear wheels. You guys make it look waaay to easy.

[Mudman]

very well done Fred!

[Wrecker]

Congrats! Great job! I'd try to make it out to watch you guys, but then I'll start to want to do it, and I already have too many bikes--so I appreciate the RR's

(bike addiction--doesn't matter what kind, I just need a friken fix and I'm easily hooked)

[Julia12]

Cool racing Fred! Thanks for the ride last night.

[Bryguy17]

Originally Posted by Tmac

Way to go Fred and Julia, you both did awesome.

If was great to get out there and ride with you guys. Maybe after a few more weeks/months of practice I will be able to hang on to your rear wheels. You guys make it look waaay to easy.

Tmac, you should get out and ride anyway. it's fun, even if you're not the fastest person on the track. just throw any hint of ego out before you get in, and you won't feel bad when 5 year olds kick your arse on the track

[2wheel_lee]

Originally Posted by Wrecker

Congrats! Great job! I'd try to make it out to watch you guys, but then I'll start to want to do it, and I already have too many bikes--so I appreciate the RR's

(bike addiction--doesn't matter what kind, I just need a friken fix and I'm easily hooked)

Wrecker, the cost of a good BMX bike is about the same as a good set of disc brakes - or half that of a good fork. They don't take up much space, and they require very little maintenance. Best of all, riding at the BMX track can greatly improve your mountain biking skills - I don't think any of the mtbers who've crossed over to BMX will disagree. Besides, it would be nice to have more women racing.

Since you can ride/race locally six days or nights a week, it's easy to fit into the schedule - what else are you doing Monday night?

If you want to give it a go, I have a bike you can ride.

[end of pitch]

[Bryguy17]

Originally Posted by 2wheel_lee

Wrecker, the cost of a good BMX bike is about the same as a good set of disc brakes - or half that of a good fork. They don't take up much space, and they require very little maintenance. Best of all, riding at the BMX track can greatly improve your mountain biking skills - I don't think any of the mtbers who've crossed over to BMX will disagree. Besides, it would be nice to have more women racing.

Since you can ride/race locally six days or nights a week, it's easy to fit into the schedule - what else are you doing Monday night?

If you want to give it a go, I have a bike you can ride.

[end of pitch]

I agree with lee. At the very least, trying a different type of riding like BMX will almost always helps with basic mountain bike skills, especially if you're active and try to learn new things. I'm much more confident jumping on trails, and manualing small things now that I've started doing BMX on the side, and I also am finding more opportunities to pedal and get an extra edge when I'm on the trail.

This also goes for most types of riding. I dabbled in trials too, and that really teaches you good balance, discipline, and how to really move around a bike.