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

Kanga was killing it on that dual-crown FS bike during the XC.

My brother was all- 'who the heck is that?! The dood is animal!'

:lol:
:beer:

 

It's ok to be big:lol: ,The last time I was Steve- Kanga- size was in Junior high school, I just go as fast as I can for as long as I can and hopefully that is enough..plus I do ride my bike a bit more then the average overweght person:bang:!
The DH race was fun, wish we could have stuck around for the rest of the events but Maddie was in no shape to lurk for 2 days in the camper.

 

We can sit here and "pit race" all we want, this would have been great topic for debate Saturday night around the campfire. In the end, it was great racing, a great weekend, and a really awesome vibe that was put on for the 20th Annual Keyesville Classic. Thanks Jason for getting all together and coordinated, to all the helpers and volunteers that chipped in to try to keep things moving smoothly, and to all the dedicated racers that trained their A$$'s and legs off to make a race of it, as well as to all the Sponsors ( my favorites being the folks Paul and Mic over at Bionicon, and the folks over at Kern River BREWCO keeping things fun and flowing)
Each and every one of you that was there added a little part of it to the mix, making the sum of the events better and greater than each individual part.
As a volunteer, I had a great weekend working, watching, learning, listening and meeting tons of cool peeps. It was a most excellent vibe, i'm sitll buzzing a bit from it. Just so many cool areas to ride around there.

 

oh o-KAY "BIG GUY"

You ride your bike more than an *Average* person too

Let's just keep in mind that you, keep up/or are faster than most going up! :bang:But we all know your not normal :lol:

So don't pull the "fat guy" thing on us

 

A direct link to the results from Eternal Timing.

http://www.eternaltiming.com/results08/uscf/uscf.cfm

In the event you forgot to return your timing chip, note the instructions at the bottom of the page for return directions and address.

 

How is that possible?? I was practically assaulted half a pedal stroke past the XC finish line :lol:

Seriously, though..

 

Congrats to all STR grasshoppers who competed...

This is the first race that I would actually consider coming out of "retirement" to race again. this really looks like fun. I spent 5 years racing, 12 to 18 races a year. It really beat your body up in those days (pre-suspension), but I still think that a light hardtail with a 80/100F Fox forx is the way to go towards an overall win. I can remember suffering during and after the races and saying "I must be crazy to keep doing this"... but I really sort of miss it. Unfortunately, they don't have many racing in my age group and we usually get dumped into a lower age group.

I can just see me telling Ranger Nancy, "Honey, I want to start bike racing again... what's that honey, be sure and write... but, I'm not going anyplace! Oh, but you are.... home to mother?" Yeah, that'll go over like a lead balloon...:-s

Anyhow, thanks everyone for sharing the great pics...

 

There are a few guys in 55+ at Fontana. I think you could take 'em.

SS? Not so much

 

i saw that. those guys were relentless, and there were two of them both saying the same things to riders as they passed by...how bout giving the riders a chance to think about breathing first, and then maybe returning those electronic devices.

 

Sorry this took so long... issues with the wireless connection being dropped, so I ended up moving pics onto a wired desktop computer and finally got 'em (all 800) uploaded.

I'll post a few here, but there's lots more on the otbmbc.smugmug.com site.

Friday, pre-race riding:

13 yo Ryan on the Frequency, play time before the race:



XC Pre-ride, Jared (won the expert division), Posthole and Fergus (from switchback):




Contemplating the big drop line to bypass the slot (later closed by race officials before the race):





Ryan enjoys the Supershuttle (he rode the hardtail Frequency for the race):



Hiking up to session the slot:



Jared pilots the Golden Willow through the slot:



Fergus on the Edison:



Chewy Aitken showing how to ride the Golden Willow on the DH (2nd place Pro):











Ryan



I get to hand off the camera and take a run:



Fastest line is over the rocks, not through them. Mark Jordan:



Posthole and I flagging the ST course:



Saturday... DH:

Now where is the best line? Hiking up for the first DH run, the STR Crew:



1080P at the all-mountain weigh-in:



Nervous, confident, excited? What was going on inside that helmet? Mechmann:



Fergus and Steph, waiting:



The DH Start scene:



Autoduel, weighing in the vintage:



Nerves of steel... or is it 7075 al? Steph, Allison, (Mark, Ryan's dad) and Dan:



Race Director, Jason:



Ryan weighs in the XL Frequency at a portly 22 pounds:




Confident and ready! Allison:



First riders off:



Event sponsors and my homies at Bionicon:



John Widen, Bionicon Ironwood on the DH:

 

Short Track:

Ryan and I... back of the pack strategy at the start:



Sport class away:



Picking them off...one by one:





The 2nd last turn was bermed and fun... if you took the outside line:



Ryan, making his winning move on the last lap:




Expert ST Start:



Jared takes the inside line for the pass:



Paul from Flagstaff, broke his bike before the race, and took an Edison instead, with the fork fully dropped down:





Jared on the race leader's wheel, pushing him until the move in the last lap:





Jared takes him at the finish for the expert win:



Pro ST Start:



Tim Allen, flagstaff Pro:



Chewy Aitken:









Tim Allen, showing his winning ST form:





Jason Moeschler, king of Downieville:



It's a sufferfest, even for the pros:



Numbing the short track pain, or warming the bones from the inside?



The supershuttle came through, I took the win for my age division in Sport:



Jared takes the Expert Overall, and his expert age group, along with Dan in 3rd:



Ryan at 13 was the youngest competitor in the event, the only one in his division, but won the overall Sport division and the All Mountain sport:



Justin takes his age in the sport division, with Fergus right behind him in second:



Post award campfire:



And on into the night:

 

Steve - thanks for all the pics!

 

Grasshopper Kanga...

Extremely good pics... you managed to catch the feel of the event in the photos as it's really about the riders... not the bikes....very well done!

PS: Congrats on winning, Steve... :bang:

 

XC:

I'm leading the XC out of the start, except for the eventual winner who hammered out of the gate never to be seen again (first two pics taken by undergroundxc from MTBR) ....



Fun on the XC:




Awards:

The 2nd and third place awards were cool Bionicon Keyesville Classic beer mugs. I got a set of four :beer:



Trophies for the all-mountain were some of the coolest hand-made art pieces I've seen:



Lots of raffle swag as well:



Steph takes a 3rd in XC:



I took third in my age for the XC, 7th overall:



Autoduel makes off with his first of two raffle wins:



The Pro XC winners, top 5:




A fine Sport all-mountain showing for STR. Steph and Allison in 1st and 2nd:



And for the Pros, Tim from Flagstaff for the win, Chewy in 3rd place:



Two of the happiest people in flagstaff this week, Tim Allen and Ryan Geiger:






And a fine showing for Bionicon and STR in the Sport All-Mountain... Ryan in first overall, Justin in 2nd, and



Jared takes the Expert all-Mountain for Bionicon:



Autoduel Steve takes 2nd in the Vintage All-Mountain:



One happy and tired Bionicon crew: Paul, me, Jared, Ryan, Chewy, Mic:

 

Many more can be found at http://otbmbc.smugmug.com/gallery/4543116_H7fa4/44/267752196_zUyxL#P-1-15 if you have time to look at the 700 or so I posted...

 

Nice pics steve...it was a good weekend, major props to all those who raced the stage-race, that was tough, I'm bringing a hardtail 29er for it next year.

Justin way to keep racing despite frustrating mechanical problems in the first miles of the XC race.:bang:

Thanks Bionicon folks for lending me the Edison for the weekend...it was a good time.

Finally nice job race organizers and Jason in particular for hosting an amazing event.

 

Nice pics, Steve. Whew! No Plumbers Crack showing from my weight loss. 8-[ :lol::lol::lol:

 

Official Race Pics

The official race pics are posted and available for purchase. Problem is the thumbnails are too small to tell who's who, so I spent some time figuring it out for everyone. You'll need the image number if you want to buy them from the keyesville.com site. Here's the ones I could find:

Me:








Chewey:







Autoduel 94:








Dan 122:







Jared





Ryan:



Justin 47:









Allison 46:









John 139:







Steph 121:

 

Bike Mag posted up some pics of the race... there is a cool shot of Dan charging it with the other expert riders in short track and they even show the bubb that t boned him

http://bikemag.com/gallery/keyesville_classic_08/

 

The photo evidence is here!