Ride Report Keyesville Classic 2009/Great Event (merged threads)

Friday was great! weather was perfect. As we pulled in to find a place to call home, Justin, Allison & Steph had just finished pre-riding the DH. They were all smiles,Justin was ready to *cut us* He sure loves his new *Box* and was pleased he got to finally play around with it.

We found a great spot for camp, down past the venue along side the river, it was beautiful, but not very exciting, no venue action for us, Sounds like a pretty big STR group was there, racing and spectating.So I missed seeing everyone and the races (oh well there's always next year)We've already decided where we'll camp for next year in case I get stuck at camp again
Big thanks to the guys from Bionicon for inviting us up and showing Neil that we don't have to drive all the way up to D-Ville to get beautiful surroundings and awsome trails. We will be back up soon!

Dinner Friday night was at the Kern River Brewery, GREAT Beer :beer:and good food, Although the Fish Tacos didn't set well with the 3 guys (Neil - *showtime* Jay & Steve) racing. I'll just call it racing nerves

Like a true *Adams Family* member Nam drove the night and made it up to our campsite about 12 am and was the only one ready to party. So Nam reaches into is car to pull out his stuff and drops the ole *I forgot my sleeping bag*#-oI thought he was kidding, but no he's was telling to truth. So after I had to wake up Madeline and pull out a sleeping bag for they guy , it was back to sleep for everyone.

Like Steve (autoduel) said Madeline sure made our Friday night rough #-oshe was up all night, just feeling crappy, boy I really blew that one! Next time mommy will listen make the more cautious choice.
After several wake up calls from Madeline (just not feeling good) 7 am came too quick for the whole crew, but needless to say Neil, Jay and Nam took their tired selves up to the venue and stated their day.
About the time everyone hiked their bikes up the DH course (no shuttles for this race) the weather changed. I was told it snowed and hailed up top and everyone waited patiently getting cold for their turn.
Madeline & I stayed warm running the heat, Maddie rested watching movies and sleeping while I packed up for the ride home after the DH race.Little sprinkles here and there but nothing more.
The weather turned as we were just about to pull out from our site, first it started to rain then sleet and then quarter size snow flakes...I've heard it just got worse.


For all those out with Dean on the 23 mile epic, I hope the weather didn't ruin your ride and that you all had a good ride :wave: and I'm sad I missed seeing ya'll but it just wasn't in the cards.



Here are the results for the DH, sorry if I forgot someone #-oI wasn't at the venue so I didn't know and I'm posting the pictures Neil had a chance to take. I'm sure as the weekend unfolds more names and results will show themselves.
STR did a fantastic job of representing! Big congrats to everyone out there racing! :bang::bang::bang::bang:and to those who were out there spectating your name calling and words of encouragement could be heard by all :bang::bang:


Sat DH results:

Neil - 2nd in clydesdale,BTW this was his 1st ever DH race and he raced fully rigid #-o

Jay *showtime* Shaw - 1st race ever! 1st place Beginner (sandbagger:lol

Steve (kanga) 2nd place sport (not sure what age group neil thought he got you on the poduim, but I couldn't find the pic)



Justin - 1st place sport 30 -39


Allison - 1st place sport
Steph - 3nd place sport (sounds like she took a nasty spill)



Dan (stephs other 1/2) - 1st place expert (not sure age)




The DH was just the 1st of 3 races of the weekend - I can't wait to see and hear how the weekend wrapped up for STR and everyone else who made the trip up to ride!

On a side note:

Neil figured he would have done well over all, the guy that got 1st in his class in the DH was on a DH bike and if he raced the whole event he'd have to ride the same bike. Neil choose to ride rigid because he races well rigid in XC. I'm sad he missed the rest of the race, but I have to say I have a Stand Up hubby! He gave up the rest of his weekend to be with his family. Thanks Neil your actions did not go UN-NOTICED!Thanks for putting us 1st :bang::bang:

 

More ..................

Steve & the long walk up the DH




The view from the DH course


Jay taken a look before he tries the DH




No race action here, but just some fun Brett, Nam and I had at our campsite while the awards for DH were going on.

Thanks Brett & Nam for hanging out with me for a bit, it was nice to have the company:bang::bang::bang:

Nam drinking his 1st beer in the year 2008



Brett messing around on a little pump track we had above our campsite

 

I thought it was a bit early to see RR from Keysville. Hope Maddie feels better soon!!!

 

Lots of fun, nice to meet some of the OC and SD crowd. Indeed , it was snowing during weigh in for the folks racing multiple events at the top of the downhill course. MORE SNOW during the awards session. Most exciting racing from a spectator point of view? Definitely the Short track events. Elbow to elbow passing, great visibility for the spectators, all within earshot of the announcer.

Kanga has got some great photos of the event. I hope he gets a full report in for folks to read by the time they get to work Monday morning.

 

Can't wait for the reports gang!
Looking forward to it!

 

Ohhh...I will have the full write up tomorrow morning!!

Just got home and am going to bed

 

Sounds like an Uber fun time, Justin. I really wish I could have been there. I missed all the Fontana races, and now this one. I'm REALLY itching to race again!!! Good work to all!

 

Tracy I am sorry I missed you and Neil both times we came thru the race site. Also very sorry with the confusion leaving Bret behind. Our ride was excellent...we got rained on, hailed on, snowed on, sunshined on, charged by a bull and we saw two bobcats. It was a very long 23 miles.

PIC: The locals (jfsh & danophoto) leading a helping hand.:beer:


Dean

 

Mechmann... it was a pleasure to stand next to you on the podium.

What Justin forgot to mention was the one who smoked us both and took the all-mountain sport division was 13 years old, Ryan Geiger, the Bionicon rider from Flagstaff! While Mechman and I were in different age categories for the individual races, there are no age categories for all-mountain race.

It was a really great weekend. I learned a lot, laughed a lot, and had a great time. The vibe was great, the weather a constant unknown. Even moments before each event on Saturday we didn't know if we'd have sun, rain or snow.

The Downhill:

I got to play on snakepit for the two days before the race, and I rode a lap of the xc course each day as well. But what I didn't do was a downhill run from top to bottom... had I done that I'd have realized how much flat pedaling there is before you actually get to the boulder garden. I only did one run down the Dutch Flat course, then saw it on the ride up before the race.

Waiting at the top for the DH start was cold! It drizzled a few times, tried to turn to snow, but never really turned into a full rain. It was a great vibe, and things went relatively smoothly. 1080P was doing the weigh-in for the all-mountain.

When my turn came I took off and realized I had been freezing cold and had no chance to warm up for the pedaling effort, and it was a lot of pedaling!

Course 1, Dutch Flat, has several short steep climbs and I never seemed to get into a rhythm through them, but once I got to the final DH I was able to let loose and use all the travel I had. 2:53

Course 2, Snakepit, was even more flat pedaling with a few minor rises, before dropping into the boulder garden and the slot, then the swoopy 4wd road to the bottom. Lots of fun. There was only one injury on the DH and that was in the snakepit, and not a serious one. I think the victim just wanted the Kern River Brewing beer more than the ride to the hospital!

My combined times put me in second for my age in the DH sport class.

During the afternoon the weather went from cold to colder, and the rain turned to snow flurries during the DH awards. After the awards I remember running to my car and wrapping myself in my sleeping bag for ten minutes before changing my tires for the short track.

Steppie and crew did a token appearance in the afternoon, before riding out into the unknown (weather) with JFSH down the Kern Canyon trail.

Short Track:

The short track course was extremely fun. It was fast, tight, and the rain kept it packed down really well. For the duration of the sport division, we had a pretty good break in the weather. Since I was riding a 170mm travel Supershuttle for all three events in the all-mountain, I thought this wouldn't be my event so my strategy was to start at the back of the pack, and pick off as many as I could, one-by-one. I passed quite a few and lapped quite a few, but didn't know how I was doing until the results were posted. Since all the sport division raced together, 13 year old Ryan, was duelling it out in front with another teenager, both on hardtails. Mechman was on their heels, and I ended up two behind him overall in the sport division, but won my age division. Mechman won his, and Ryan took the sprint at the end to win his age division and the overall sport ST.

It was exciting stuff.... I remember pegging my heart rate to 94% on the first little rise and never seeing it below 92%.

The evening was quite nice... sitting around the campfire, looking at the pics of the day and just hanging out. For me the event wouldn't have had the same vibe if I didn't camp, though I know the weather was a big factor for many. I just love it up there.

XC:

Sunday was cold, sunny, and very light winds. The rain made the course pack down really nicely, and the trailwork the SSFTA had put in to the course over the past few months really showed. Having ridden the course twice in the past two days, I knew what was coming up and was able to plan accordingly. My race was notably less stressful than Justin's....

The Supershuttle, with 15 extra pounds in the fork and rear shock, did pretty well. I did my first lap in about 44 minutes and really found my groove in the second lap. One guy was way out in front right off the bat, and nobody was going to chase him down. Two guys hung with me through the first climb, and neither of them had seen the course, so I gave them my best description of what was coming up. I lost them on the downhill (thank you 170mm of travel!). We were already passing riders from the previous age group, and came to a choke on one of the steep climbs. The guy I had lost caught me at that point, and I saw an opening and made the push, passing the group by riding up the rut they were all avoiding. He followed me and kept up again until the downhill, when I was able to open up the gap again.

It was the Pearl Harbor drive climb where he caught and passed me. I kept him in sight until the finish of lap one. As I rode through the start/finish, Ryan had caught up to me from his age group start 6 minutes behind. He passed me and took off. I felt like I was in a better groove now, more in my comfort zone... a longer ride. The second lap was a little different... most people I passed on the rollling climbs were walking so they didn't hold us up. But then two got in front us on the downhill singletrack, and wouldn't let us pass. It ended up being a long rest that I hadn't planned for. On one of the turns near the bottom we were able to sneak by on the inside.

After grinding up the last climb on the second lap, I just had fun on the DH.... hitting some of the jumps, pumping through the rollers and really enjoying it. It is a really fun course, after all. There was nobody in front or behind me for several hundred yards, so why not! I ended up third in my age, with less than a minute between me and second, and ten minutes from first place. My time was 1:34.

During the pro event Jason Moeschler from Downieville didn't have team support, so Posthole offered and I tried to deliver. I stood out there for half an hour with his bottle waiting for his second lap, only to get word that he'd crashed hard and was on his way to the medical tent in a vehicle. Turned out he hit his head and was shaken up, but physically OK.

After that there was a lot of swag to be doled out via the raffle. Several people made off with some pretty cool stuff. The all-mountain trophies were really sweet. They'd been hand-made by John from MRA. Steph and Allison both podiumed for the all-mountain, as did mechmann and I.

We had a few people scratching their heads....Chewy Aitken took second in the Pro downhill and third in the pro-all mountain riding a Golden Willow, Bionicon's "XC" bike, and I placed in the XC and ST and the DH on the Supershuttle, their all-mountain "freeride" bike.... :-k

I hung around and helped clean up and pack up... by 6:30 the only giveaway that anything had happened was a bunch of waffle prints in the sand.... and a very tired race director without a voice.

Thanks to everyone at the SSFTA, Kern river Brewing company, all the sponsors, and everyone who contributed to the fun vibe just by being there!

It will take a while for the pics to be sorted and uploaded, but I'll add them when I can.

 

Wow! Glad you have such a great attitude about it! A 2nd place finish OVERALL is not a bad place to end you race weekend :bang:

 

I met up with Neil and Jay friday afternoon and we did some DH practice. The Dutch Flat run seemed much sketchier than the snakepit. It was very sandy and loose over the rocks and had a few off camber turns. I ran a 38x19 gear and still spun out on the initial section of the 2nd run approaching the snakepit. The snakepit combined the rockiness of rattlesnake with the narrows of the chutes. The tough part was the left hander into a narrow chute against a rock wall. All my attempts ended up with me rubbing shoulders on the wall. Neil was able to clean it on his timed run and was stoked. I did fine through the rest of the snakepit on my practice runs, but when it came time to put it on the line I went in much faster than during practice and got bounced off the pedals on the rock drops. As for the chute, I tripoded on the right hander before, so I just picked up the bike and ran through that section. Good enough for a sub 4 minute run. I felt that I did much better on the Dutch Flat DH run with a 3:11. I missed the awards, but if they broke it down to classes instead of age groups I think I would have came in second in vintage. Jay in his first DH race killed it with a 1st place win in the beginner class. Congrats!

The STXC was interesting. It was raining, hailing, and snowing just before the beginner's start. Everyone was huddled in front of Justin's heater trying to keep warm. The beginner class and expert class got rained on, but fortunately the sport class got away with sunshine during the race. The course was 1/2 mile loop with a mild initial climb and mostly winding singletrack downhill back to the start. They ran the vintage class with the sport class instead of it's own group. So at the start line I took the opportunity to finger Justin's box.:lol: Just before I went off line at the first turn and took Justin out! No worries, cause he came back to lap me and proceeded to take 1st place:bang:. "On your left steve!"

The following morning was the XC race. Several more vintage racers showed up the night before just for the XC. Most were on the MTBR vintage forum. At the start we all took off at a leisurely pace, cruising up the hill until the rolling hills started. I took the advantage of bombing down some of the hills to keep momentum up. When the first extended climb started, we began to spread out. The rest of the course was very SS friendly. Much of it was rolling where you can use your downhill momentum to carry you up most of the short climbs. Only on 2 or so of the climbs I walked a portion of. I didn't get a chance to preride the course but did have a course profile taped to my bars to help me know what was coming up. There were 3 of us that were playing leap frog through most of the course. I would catch up on the steep rollers and they would pull away on the longer climbs. When I crested the last climb, all 3 were ahead. Then I hear from a spectator " big ring it!, it's all downhill!" I spun as fast as I could, but I didn't think I would catch them. Then as I crossed the road I saw one spinning on the last short steep climb. I stood up an hammered past him and pedalled as fast as I could to finish 7 seconds in front of him. That 5th place finish won me the 2nd overall in the vintage stage race by 1 point. The vintage guys were great. We all moved out of each other's way on climbs and encouraged each other. Then we gave props at the finish.8)

The race pace is much more exhausting than club rides. Climbs I could normally power up on the weekends were much more difficult when I'm giving 99% the whole time. I would feel good on the flats and downhills, but as soon as the climbing started, my legs would turn to rubberbands. If I had to do a second lap, I'll be doing a lot more pushing.

I had great time and am definitely going back next year!

And now for the pics:

Hammershots just before the DH run.


Neil on his rigid Salsa bombing the DH


Justin


Allison


Allison hot on Stephanie's heels at the bottom of the DH


Upchuck on his rigid Fat Chance down Dutch Flat


Some of the skilled trials riders


Some of the crazy Saturday weather


Hanging out at the STXC start


Fingering Justin's box


A disappointed Justin after the XC finish


The cool kids race, the actually went around some of the STXC techie sections!


Stephanie and Allison finishing 1st and 2nd in the stage race.


Justin placing 2nd in the stage race


And me, the only vintage stage racer that stuck around for the awards.

 

Good to see you there representing the vintage class! You did pretty well on the raffle too!

 

Awsome overall standings!

Big congrats to your job well done Allison, Steph, Justin, Steve (kanga) & Steve (autoduel)!

Great seeing so many STR folks on the podium :bang:

 

A nice pic of Mechmann from a blog posting via MTBR. This was a particularly fun spot near the end of the XC course (From bigsandyrace.com)

http://gallery.mac.com/undergroundxc#100109/DSC00925&bgcolor=black







And one of me in the same spot....

 

Wow sounds like everyone had a great weekend. Sorry to hear about your XC race Justin. At least you looked good in the jersey! Second place is not bad if you ask me. Congrats to everyone for some great racing

 

Way to represent and have a good time doing it.

No I know where all of those cars with bikes were coming from down the 5 over the grapevine.

 

Race #1: DH (or as I call it, Close Encounters of the Arboreal Kind)

Pre-race:
We arrived at Keyesville mid-morning on Friday to take advantage of the chance to pre-ride the DH and XC courses. The drive was very scenic and the weather, though there was a chill in the air, was pretty nice.

Driving up the 178 from Inyokern


Spy vs. Spy, Yeti-style


Great scenery


Allison & Justin beat us there by an hour or so, and were off riding Snakepit, one of the DH courses. The four of us (A & J, Dan and I) were doing the stage race so we had to opt for one bike to do-it-all. Dan and I settled for the Yetis because they are so versatile. We suited up with the Manns once they returned to the pit area and we all pushed up to session snake pit. I felt really awkward with my pads and full face on while riding the Yeti…in fact, I think it mentally sketched me out. Snakepit was a fun course but I caught one of the death cookies in “The Slot” and went otb right in front of Justin. Glad I was wearing pads. I didn’t get tossed far, but the bike landed on me and my left shoulder hit a rock.

We went to the Kern River Brewing Company to register and have lunch, then returned to the venue to do a loop of the XC.

KRBC


We definitely didn't look tired yet


Aww yeah!


It was a fun ride, and we got a good sense of the course profile…some fireroad climbs with a lot of fun, swoopy, rollercoaster singletrack in between. This type of course suits my style because I like short, steep climbs!

After that, we hiked up the other DH run, Dutch Flat. There was a long decomposed granite slab toward the bottom and a lot of little uphills to make it interesting. We only did one run, and I took it pretty slow. I just wasn’t comfortable once I dropped the saddle on my bike and ran the fork in 130mm. The 2.1 tires I was running didn’t help either, so Dan changed them out for my 2.35”s once we got back to Jeff’s house

The SBC bike (Sh!t Bike Challenge)...go pick up a copy of this month's Bike magazine and go to the last page...so, so funny!


My gal pals, Jackie and Joy


DH race:
We got to the venue and had to hike up the hill to get our bikes weighed in. My Yeti needs another diet…the scale topped out at 30.1 lbs! The weather was really wacky…sunny one moment, sleeting the next. By the time race runs went off, it was pretty clear but chilly. Run #1 was down the Dutch Flat jeep road. I went for my run and struggled with the climbs the whole way. I didn’t know the course and was taken by surprise at every turn. “Oh, there’s a turn there…doh!” I must’ve thought that a bunch of times! I came down to the bottom of the last chute totally on my brakes. I was frustrated because I rode way beneath my ability level.

We re-grouped in the parking lot and then soon headed up for run #2…Snakepit. I started off in a much bigger gear and tried to really get up to speed fast. Somewhere in the first downhill, I started going off the trail and almost hit a very big rock on the left. Things were to continue going very poorly…I made it down past the course split and hit one of the little root drops. I sent it and landed too far left in the sand pit at the bottom…I couldn’t steer and ended up crashing into a tree. It had a lot of growth at the bottom so it was fairly “soft” but I got knocked off the bike and the bike got stuck in it. I had to extricate myself quick. Did a quick damage assessment and determined I was not hurt. I got back on the bike on the little uphill after it and damn if I wasn’t in my big ring! I could hardly pedal…it was all very frustrating.

I made the rest of the course okay but tripoded through “The Slot” and pulled over because I thought Allison might want to get by me. She was behind me and kept encouraging me to pedal down the jeep road portion, but my confidence was pretty broken. I cruised the rest of it and lost major time. I finished a good 30 seconds off Allison’s time, which ended up being the fastest for the sport women (only 1 expert woman did the stage race so most of the sport ladies were on XC or AM bikes).

I ended up taking 3rd in the downhill despite my bush/tree excursion. Dan pinned it and won the expert DH 30-39 by a combined 14 seconds. Justin and Allison took first as well! Several STR folks were on the podium.

Thanks to everyone who came out to watch! Steppie made my day when he came up to me and sang “George, George, George of the Jungle…” and I had to think about what he meant. I said, softly, “…watch out for that tree?” We all had a good laugh at that one! We got back to Jeff’s house and an awesome chicken dinner was waiting, along with more awesome STR peeps!

Dan, pleasantly surprised to see that he won


The DH crowd


Dan, 1st in expert men, 30-39


Another SoCal rider...Dan Mutz (his organization, Likin' Bikin' donated a lot of swag)


Justin, staying warm


Sport women 19-29 podium


Kanga on the podium...2nd place!


Short Track report and pics to follow

 

What an awesome weekend!

Laura and I drove up to my Dad's 'ranch' (about 12 miles south of Lake Isabella, and about 4300 ft elevation) Friday night. Upon awakening Saturday morning, I looked outside to see snow on my truck! This was our first clue that we were in for some bizarre weather.

We called Dean, and arranged to meet at the race site.
Dean introduced me to a few STRs (Jeff, Andy, Justin, and a couple of others). I opted-out of Jeff's ride, and decided to hang at the races and ride in that area. We watched about half of the DH 'Snakepit' runs (I remember seeing Allison and Steph come down a few bike lengths apart). After this we found Neil and Traci (along with Nam and Brett), and said hello as they were preparing to depart. I hope your daughter's feeling better!

So I finally get to ride a trail... get 100 yds from my truck and get a friggin flat. After fixing it, we ride a bit and it begins to snow! With blue fingers (half gloves suck when it's really cold/wet), I retreat to my truck... 10 minutes later the sun's out and everythings steaming!
At this point, I walked up Snakepit and gave the course a go. Kanga describes it well... that Slot section was a challenge, but once past there, one could really pick up some speed. For the next couple of hours, we watched the XC short track races, which looked really fun! The weather seemed to change every 20 minutes or so from cloudy to sunny, to raining to sleet, etc.

On Sunday, we bailed on going to the race site and took Dean's suggestion of a ride at Whiskey Flats (i'll post RR w/photos later). I did learn something noteworthy: when Steppie (who's sig says "If i'm not lost or getting bushwacked, the trail is too easy") says a trail is fine for me and my newbie g/f, beware! #-o

A great weekend, and I can't wait to read the RRs from Jeff's rides. We'll definately be back again in '09! :bang:

 

Short Track XC...like 4X, just without the jumps, with more people, and longer

Short Track XC race:

By the time the DH ended and we rested up a bit, the weather took a turn for the worse. Up on the ridge, the snow was falling, and it wasn’t long before it was hitting the pits.

The snow flies


A nice dusting


Staying warm (or trying to anyway)


We all huddled around A & J’s heater…thank goodness! It was colder, too, because we had shed all our DH gear and were all spandexed-up for the short track. For most of us, including me, it was our first ST ever, so we were all nervous with anticipation. Guero (Bret) and tkblazer (Nam) had been holding out all afternoon for the event, cameras ready for the action, despite the bad weather…you guys rule!!

Justin, Allison, and I were all staged together, since the whole sport field was combined. We had to do 15 minutes plus 3 laps and got pulled off once the leader finished (which turns out, he lapped us by one lap). I started on the right side of the pack and pretty soon, tried to bust through the madness at the start. Allison and I were very close and we pushed hard up the first hill. I immediately noticed a line way off to the right, next to the tape, so I took it to save time but she was still ahead. The first lap was a bit crowded, especially at the turns, but it thinned out as the laps got ticked off. I was in 2nd place until about lap 5, when another girl passed me. I tried to hold onto her wheel but was unsuccessful.

Waiting for the ST start


Allison


Justin


Me


The girl in orange, about to make her move and pass me


Allison, right on my heels

The track was really fun, with a couple little climbs and some fast, swoopy corners. A guy passed me and almost bit it in about 3 of the turns! I would’ve probably crashed into him, but he kept it upright. I kept trying to push a decent gear and make good time. Soon enough, the sign was out for 3 laps to go! I kept trying to put some distance on the rest of the girls and avoid a last minute sneak attack. I managed to hold onto 3rd place and crossed the line, breathless! All I can say is, thank goodness for spin class!

I saw Dan and said, “I hate to say this, but I had so much FUN!” Short track was my kind of race…fast with sprinting. I will definitely be trying short track again at future races, just maybe next time on a hardtail and not a 30lb AM bike! Allison finished right behind me and Justin took first in his age group.

We quickly changed and morphed into spectators for the expert ST race which Dan would be in. The weather, which had magically cleared for us, took another turn for the worse for the experts. Dan lined up and Justin kindly held his raincoat over Dan to keep him dry.


I had a blast spectating in this event! We were running all around the inside of the course trying to snap some good photos of the riders. Definitely a great event to watch! Dan got t-boned in the first turn and fought hard to make up the time on the leaders. Had he not been crashed into, I think he would’ve taken it…he’s really fast and can put for the extended effort. But alas, so is racing. He did podium in his age group, though, after all that!

Nam, king of the mountain

ST action!



Nam & Guero, athletic supporters extraordinnaire

Dan almost gets snaked by the guy on the inside




We hung around for another raffle (we didn’t win), added more pint glasses to our collection, and got a nice pasta dinner in before heading back to Jeff’s house for the night. We all sat around sharing stories, in the true mtb fashion, and headed off to rest up for another day of racing.

Cheers...with water!

The coveted AM (stage race) trophy

Dan, 3rd place in expert men 30-39

Justin, sport 30-39 winner

Chocolate chip cookie goodness, courtesy of the Shermans


XC to follow...

 

Phew... Wow, what a ride!!!

Let's begin at the beginning...

Quite awhile ago Nancy posted the Keyesville Classic event on the calendar and I checked it out. When someone later posted there was an "all mountain stage race" where you did 3 races on one bike, I thought it'd be great for us as we've been doing so much racing and training of all types (endurance for VQ, and then racing XC and DH at SRC). What better way to showcase our newfound skills and time on the bike than a stage race?!

So Justin and I pre-registered and looked forward to the event. No training needed.

Justin worked feverishly to get his 'box in prior to the race, since he knew it was what he wanted to run. He emailed White Bro's back and forth to ensure he had a fork, and called Devin Lenz to make sure his frame had shipped out. Despite a few minor snags here and there everything was in "working" order a week before the event.

The Canzo was good to go, but I didn't have my "all mountain" wheelset, so Justin worked like crazy to get my wheels built up in time for the race.

We worked all week to prepare and pack for the race, and got up a little after 5 am on Friday to head north.



We passed through Kernville a little before 10 am, and we were at Keyesville not long after walking around.

Right away we saw Steve about to head up for a practice run down Snakepit, so we quickly parked and got some gear on to head over.

Nothing was marked and no one seemed to know anything about where to practice the course except to "head up that way". So, we did. We wound up hiking the wrong way and were at a pretty loose sandy rocky section. No one knew where the course began.

I felt completely foreign on my bike. I couldn't climb. I figured it was the elevation; no, we were only at 2500 ft.





Justin messed with my tire pressure and rear shock pressure, and that didn't help. We went back down to the snakepit and I wound up walking parts of it. We found someone else that said the start was left, instead of straight where we had hiked up initially, so we went back and started at a big incline after a looped double track. Turns out that it was the start.

We rode down and I did the rock garden, but not the rock slot. We finished out the course and found Steph and Dan at the fairly empty staging area. It was probably around 11. Official practice was from 10-4, and still no one knew where the courses were.

The four of us hiked back up and started near what was the start of the DH course and did a run down Snakepit. We took a few photos of the rock garden, and sessioned that a bit before heading down to the slot.



Rocket Man Dan



Steph



Me



Justin and his box



Someone on an actual DH bike



Me



I don't know if it looks like it or not, but I felt completely off on that bike riding technical stuff. At first I didn't wear elbow pads and had my XC helmet on. When we went back down and got Steph and Dan I put on elbow pads and my full face. It helped slightly, but I still felt awkward on the Canzo.

I did feel slightly better than I had before, but it felt like I hadn't ridden a bike at all in about 2 months.

We came to the rock slot and I was pretty nervous. I wanted to take the right line so I didn't have to worry about the bump, but I got knocked into the rut on the left. I wound up riding it out!!

Justin was taking photos, or so I thought. I said, "Did you get it?!" He kept saying that it was on video mode, and finally that he had taken a video of me riding it.

[googlevideo]8693132532543192482[/googlevideo]

He didn't get me riding it out, though... But, I did wind up making the next two turns without a problem.

And here's take 2:

[youtube]2eN5Wu9PjWo[/youtube]

After we all made it through we headed back into Kernville for lunch and to register. It was about 1:30-2, but registration was just getting set up, so we sat down and ate. After getting our fill of chicken sandwiches, wings, soup, waffle fries, and Justin downed his Stout V, we headed outside to register. It was pretty cold and kinda breezy.

I went up to check-in and the girl said, "Oh, you're my competition!" I said that Stephanie also was racing with us. It was Emily, who had swept the all mountain stage race last year. She looked pretty fit IMO and I was kind of nervous. She definitely had both of us on size/weight.

We finally all got checked in and headed back to the staging area. We decided to do a XC pre-ride lap since the DH course wasn't marked yet, and the loop would take more time. Off we went.

Just past the staging area we ran into race director Jason setting up course tape on the Dutch Flat DH course (#1). We introduced ourselves and he informed Steph and I that Emily, his girlfriend, had "swept" the stage race last year. Since Stephanie wasn't sure what to do about her category, she signed up for Sport (two XC events, and only one DH event). He said that was fine, as long as she didn't think she was "sandbagging". I said as her competition I thought she belonged in sport.

I said that Emily looked like she'd be a strong contender again as well, but Jason said she'd had some injuries.

We took off down the course. It was well marked with miles to go at about 7, 3, 1.5, and 1/2 mile with arrows also.

Early rollers









Nearing the big descent



Sooo much fun (and also the windiest part of the course)



Once back to the staging area we headed straight up Dutch Flat for a practice run. It was, as advertised, a big unimproved jeep road. We were all fairly surprised at a few of the uphills. Would've been a great course for about a 6" AM bike, but on the Demo? Would've been a little rough I think!

We got back down to the cars and I put on some warm clothes. It was around 6pm so we decided it was about time to head back to Jeff's house.

Just as we pulled up he came out and said we had perfect timing! Dinner was on the counter. It was AWESOME.

I'd like to take a race report time out to just give a HUGE thanks to Jeff and his family for opening up their home to us. It was absolutely awesome to know we had a warm room to sleep in at night and showers. I know a lot of people camped (some in tents), but I would've been miserable cold all weekend! Jeff, you are absolutely awesome!! We are happy to repay the favor any time!

Jeff had made a spectacular dinner of grilled chicken, salad, and garlic bread. We all devoured it, caught up with Steppie, Lynn, Scott, Dell, and Bret. Always good to see everyone!

I took a shower and was in bed around 9 or so. Had trouble sleeping.. finally fell asleep, but my phone started bleeping at like 11:50 or so that the battery was low. It was the only alarm we had in the room, so I made Justin get up and get our watches from the truck so we'd be up on time. I had visions of us missing our DH races #-o Took awhile, but we finally fell back asleep.