race report: well i am sure like most, the alitiude really kicked my butt. my wife got a video of this guy crashing. i don't know who it is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lMM1dNtTfs
Was a great race and that was not my crash. I went down on the last bit of ST as you are in the twists where all the rocks were. Someone was taking pics there so hopefully they will post them.
Why the hell did that guy fall....maybe his XC bike could handle the extreme speeds of going slightly downhill :lol:
u so bored if you are in this forum, lol. ya we watched that thing in slow motion over and over again. i have 2 guess as to why he went down. one, he was sitting on his saddle and when he hit that little rock, it threw him foward, then i think he brake checked him self on the front on accident (maybe it was new brakes he wasnt used to, who knows) either way, i think he grabbed the front brakes.... any other thoughts?
ya i had a great save in that biggest rock garden where as i was going down i planted my foot and brought my bike back around jumped back on. good times!
http://uscup.net/up/file/BB1XCRESULTS.pdf results are up. Thought it was a nice day to be racing. couldn't ask for much better weather.
@ hobie...I always try and read your posts...but in any other case....yes I would have to be bored to be in an XC thread
now that is some funny shiznit! Looks like he came off his seat, launched his azz forward to the handlebars, grabbed a fistful of brake, and then performed some kind of flying mambo manuever! Only explanation is he did it on purpose...he knew we were all bored and needed a monday chuckle.......
race recap from my blog... Warm up was a bit short, 33 minutes. I rode down the final descent to get a look at it (no pre-ride, this definitely costs me some time on course as I could likely go faster if I was more familiar with the course) and then pedaled around some. The start was interesting as we started with the 30-34 riders. I got to see the brutal acceleration of Marco and rode Ty's wheel for a while. Several riders went up the road early and came back just as fast. It was hard to tell details as we were working through traffic immediately but it looked like a lead group formed containing Ty, Marco, and several others (maybe 6 riders?). I was leading a chase group when we crested the first climb maybe 30 seconds back. I had a few guys on my wheel but I never looked back. I passed through quite a few riders and don't know whether they were shelled by the leaders of our wave or if they were from earlier waves. At one point as we undulated across the top of the mountain Curt Buoma came around me and pulled for a bit. He was not as fast going through the corners on the fire road and I wound up back in front before too long as I was afraid of losing time to the leaders riding behind him. I knew he was a strong rider as he had placed second behind me at the Sycamore Canyon race and he looks quite a lot more like a climber than I do! In retrospect I should not have wasted energy chasing Ty and Marco as they aren't in my age group. I didn't know if anyone in my age group was with them, but I should have focused on trying to conserve and just beat Curt as he was my most immediate threat. In any case, I led as we started descending the fire road, and continued to lead down Wet Dream. I led a lot and had Curt on my wheel the whole way. I caught a rider right at the top of the next single track (Cabin 89) and he was being fairly tentative which meant that Curt was right on my wheel down the hardest part. I might have gapped him here were it not for traffic, but that is just speculation. I got around the other rider and started pushing. It had been over a year since I had ridden the trails though and I wasn't going as fast as I could, likely much slower than I have gone down those trails before. I was however going fast enough to make a mistake, pushing hard through a loose left hander I lost traction front and rear and slid, staying upright, for a 180 degree turn in the loose dirt. That was the last time I had the lead. Curt went by as I spun my bike back around and I quickly caught onto his wheel. Curt soon caught THE Ben Jones and we both passed just before turning right and starting up the single track climb. Almost immediately Curt started to pull away from me. I didn't make any mistakes I just didn't feel like I could match his pace up the climb. I did my best to limit my losses and keep from cramping, I could feel my legs protesting and threatening to lock. Right at the top of Cabin 89 I caught Danny Munoz from the Pro field. He said he was blown but picked up his pace and put in an attack that gapped me off. I was riding a steady pace. At the top of 2N51Y (I hate this climb) I caught of glimpse of Curt up the road. I had some hope of catching him. I caught Danny Munoz where we turned off onto Pirates. We were both held up at the log roller. I jumped off my bike and ran around the group of people queued up. Traffic was brutal. In quite a few places the lower category riders were simply making things way harder than they have to be. Still behind Danny I blasted past rocks, trees, and other riders. At the bottom of Pirates Danny wasn't being aggressive enough for me on passing the lower Cat riders so I went by. The section of 2N10 down to the start was silly loose and there were riders skidding their way through corners. I tried to pick my way through and neither sample dirt myself or cause anyone else to, I was successful but it was touch and go a few times. The traffic onto the last single track was stupid. People were tri-poding through the corners on Fern Trail. I made some off-line passes and the spectators went nuts. I was pretty sure that time was out to catch Curt, but that wasn't stopping me from trying. I beat Danny Munoz to the line, finishing 8th Amateur overall and 2nd in my Age Group. Win streak over. Moving on.
Here is my 'tales from the dirt', fresh from yesterday........ Headed up bright and early to Big Bear for US Cup #5. Weather report had predicted temps's in the low 40's for the morning, thankfully that did not materialize and we showed up to absolutely perfect conditions on our arrival. We did a long-ish pre-ride (~ 6 miles) that would later come in handy for the race. We headed back to the car for last minute prep and then off to the start line. Big Bear is a unique course and a little hard to explain or understand unless you have done it.......I'll try though The registration is at a Mexican Restaurant a few miles away from the start, and the finish is somewhere else entirely. It is a big loop with three lengths, and you turn off the main loop to go back depending on the course you are assigned (short, medium, long), so all racers wind up riding together for the start and finish. Then it is back to the restaurant for beer, taco's, awards, and smack talking! We got ready and before we knew it was go time. They lumped three cat's together for my start so it was something like 60 people (at least) taking off at the same time, a little chaotic. Right away I could tell the air was thin. Since you start essentially at the ski area and only go up the altitude plays a big role in this race. My heart rate felt 10 BPM faster than it read, I think other people experienced the same thing. It is painful!! Painful would be the one word description for this race. Right from the start it climbs and then continues relentlessly. There are some short down sections but overall the course seems to defy physics, an infinitely ascending Escher staircase that is more up than down. This one favors the roadies in the crowd for sure! My race went OK, but not ideal. I had some guy stop right in front of me on plantation, almost crashed into him when he decided he didn't want to ride through a puddle and came slamming to a stop instead. With a lot of different classes on the course at the same time it is a roll of the dice who winds up in front of you and how easy it is to pass them, I think I lost the roll a couple times. My cat is much tougher than last year, I had almost exactly the same time as last year and placed much lower. Guess I better step it up!!!! OK, picture time!! heading up, nice day or what?? Pre-Ride, FYI, during the race I was cutoff hard here by an aggro biker and had to go straight through the cones to avoid crashing ! Pre-ride, fun log roller. Riders starting to gather at the start. guess the other MANN in the family can bring home the bacon too! :bang:
Great race, had fun passing people in the puddles/river that was Plantation trail. Boy, were there a ton of photogs and video cameras. Hopefully, some of these get on the net!
Pretty straight to the point RR here.... nobody showed up in my class, I rode around for a non dnf 1st place! Felt like poo for the first three miles then hit the gas and had a good ride. Finished in 1:47 which was slow but I had a good time! The mud on plantation and Fern trail was alot of fun
