Ride Report Shimano Winter Series #2 (threads merged)

do you know if anyone was shooting the lower rock garden during the race, i want pictures of cris kovarik clearing that section, oh and of me going over the bars.:beer:

 

SRC #2 XC race......post up yer pics!

After a week of solid storms, the sun ahd broken through and the heavens had mercy on our souls and graced the day with sun, fun and warm temps.

I cruised the pits and start line with my camera and snapped a few pics.......

Everyone from here looked in top form and smiles were to be seen on the competitors faces. The dirt looked great too. Grrrrrrr......I am really looking forward to getting back in the saddle soon!

Finally met Painfreak and we hung out all race long...very nice chap and we chatted it up a lot about tons of stuff- all bike and trail related.

Sorry I didn't stick around for awards, but, if my calculations were correct, the STR crew hogged 'em all again!

Here's a couple pics I snapped before my camera said goodnight.

Great job, everyone, see you at SRC #3. :clap:

1- DT and Allison- pre-race face.
2- Mr. Superman wrenching- as usual.
3- Queen of the Trail- Denmother. Getting ready to hammer.
4- Allison's new ride, not even broken in yet and about to get a trial-by-race!
5- A charming couple.
6- Brandon getting ready for practice (and picking his butt wih my kit!).
7- Super Steph!
8- Mr Superman, poised and ready to dish out some pain.
9- My hero: Smilin' "Fast Eddie" Arnet and my group (had I raced)....

 

Here's a few...

Someone looks happy with her new bike.







Sporting the colors...



More images at: http://www.ericfoltz.photoreflect.com

 

Thanks for all the photos!!

 

I should of had mine up by now of the 4X but got lazy, I think I got everyone. Now I wish I had gone out there on Sunday to take pictures instead of being scared of the potential rain. Next time I'm taking pictures of super D and DH for sure.

anywho, plate number 333 if anyone has any photos that'd be great.

 

Dood- ya scored some cool style points with that hop over the knoll just before the finish in front of me an Painfreak.

Nice form man!

:beer:

 

After the misery of the hill...

 

The shots with the snow covered mountains were awesome!!

 

Oh that hill climb sucked!!!!

Cant wait for the next one! :bang:

that photo rocks!!! thanks... no dorky andy look! yeeehaw

 

When I was scouting the course, I took one look at that thing and it just looked cruel. I only saw 3-4 guys actually ride the whole thing.

 

I guess that is why there is a pro class. Those guys are amazing.

 

Nancy looks badass...

I have been out there for a few years now and I have watched Nancy develop as a racer. I am always impressed when I see her on the track and in these pictures. Nice work!!!

As for SRC WS#2, what a great weekend!!! That is the most fun I have had out there in a long time. That track was not particularly technical, but it really flowed well. Sometimes, it's fun to just corner and pump through sections without any interruption. This track had that AND the weather was perfect. Now if I can just get my fitness back up to snuff.

 

I had such a great time yesterday at the race. The course was so fun and flowy. Weather was PERFECT, we were so lucky!

My biggest accomplishment of the day was getting over my fear of the entry to the lower rock garden section - which I never did complete in my practice sessions but I did it on my race run! Funny how that worked out.

I only did one practice run on Sunday morning and never completed the final rock garden so when I was up at the top waiting for my race run, I was a bit nervous. Then I started thinking, who cares? I just want to have fun on this course and not be worried! I had a goofy song stuck in my head that made me laugh, and I thought that could work in my favor to get me relaxed. So I started my race run humming my goofy song, and I had a blast coming down the course, I felt relaxed and had FUN! :bang:

Paulina moved up to Sport class so she and I got to hang out before the race run. It's nice to have a buddy at the top, it's sure more fun than sitting alone stressing out over the coming race run! I'm sure it was her great attitude that helped me to relax and have fun.

Thanks to Sharky for your great photos and constant support! It was fun riding by and seeing you out there on the course with us!

Thanks Willie for coming out to cheer everyone on! Thanks J_Simms for your support...and cowbell! It was awesome turning the corner and seeing you smilin' and ringing the bell! :bang:

Thanks to Winston and Scott for guiding me down the rocky section at practice on Saturday!

Thanks to Sunny for helping me with line choices in practice - and for yelling at me to "get up and pedal" in my race run when I was at the wall section!

Thanks to Roger, Nancy, Justin, Allison, Stephanie, and Sarah for your friendship, support, inspiration, and advice!

Thanks to MW for always being my best supporter and cheerleader!

And special thanks to Maxine, for riding with me on Saturday and reminding me about balance and looking ahead - and for the best reminder of all, to have FUN above all else, which I did.

Here are some podium pics:

Expert Men - Luke


Tani


Expert Women - Allison


Laura


Sport Men - Justin


Andy aka Rut


Sport Women - Paulina


me

 

I had a really fun weekend out in the 909: Saturday practise was great - I got to be back seat driver and yell 'encouragement' to Sarah anytime I wanted with utter impunity . The damp ground reminded me of riding back in the UK and whilst not so technical the course looked like so much fun.
Sunday morning and the much talked up deluge never arrived. Weather seemed perfect, trail conditions seemed even better than the day before. Took some pics with the sharkster, Sarah had a great race run and to round up we got some pointers from podium regular Michelle and met yet another Brit. Subway and ice cream then it was full speed out of the 909 as the dark clouds headed in. I had been thinking Fontana was an enclave that wasnt deserving of being part of the 909 until I arrived in the cul-de-sac to pick up Sarah only to think I'd taken a wrong turn and ended up in Compton. I wasnt sure whether to call the guys ma homes or essay or something. Get out of the 'hood fool 8-[.

 

wow, another race gone by.

 

Here are "my" photos from the weekend

Tumbleweed came up after her morning run and said she didn't have a camera, so I gladly offered her mine!!

I took this shot on the way to the race:



Gorgeous!!

Heather's photos (until noted):

Stretching before your race DOES help!



The Path/STR girls do DH and XC. There ain't no mountain high enough



Rut looks ready to go



Staging



Justin's arms are twice the size of anyone else in his class



Rut comes across for lap 2 (don't drink while you are being photographed!)



Justin just out on lap 2



Me coming around



Steph picks up a bottle



Nancy ditches one



Andy at the finish line



Me, pedaling hard



Steph, doing the same thing



Photos by me and/or Justin

Steph stretches her butt and advertises for Hammer all at once



Nancy, Heather, Maxwell



Our buddy Melissa with her new SRC member plate



Cheers! It's not even noon, but bottles up (I enjoyed one, and there probably were children around.)



Nancy podiums again XC!



Is there anything she can't do?

Steph and I



Justin atop his XC podium



Our Sunday pit area



Er...you know that storm that was promised?



One of the 3 fastest green bikes I own!



Luke on the podium (6th)



Tani got bumped from 3rd. Can someone get him an Ibex Woolies? He looks cold



Me, my first time in 1st in Expert! Joy in 2nd with her son

 

Justin gets top billing again



Rut in 5th! This guy is an animal. XC (singlespeed), Super D (singlespeed) and then DH!



Rainbow on the way home



I'll probably post a way more detailed race report than anyone cares to read on my blog. But, check in later this afternoon or tomorrow.

 

Wow, a cross country race AND a gun show! Two for the price of one.

 

Southridge 4X Report

I finally got my new Black Market Riot together on Friday night, and took it for a spin around the neighborhood. I was a bit concerned because it started to feel a bit small. The Riot's I had test-ridden around at The Path were singlespeeds. My Riot had gears, and a shifter that my knee often found. Suited up in race gear on Saturday, I found that wearing knee pads further reduced knee clearance. I think I may need to upsize the 21.5" frame with the larger 22" frame - really small numbers for a 5'11" tall rider compared to the numbers XC guys are used to looking at.

I showed up at around 11:30 and registered. The weather was beautiful, and the water-down course looked awesome. The dirt couldn't have been nicer. I was glad I opted to run a smaller 2.1 Nevegal tire up front.

It was great to see Ricky, Brandon, and Jman out there practicing and racing. After seeing Ricky do a few runs I was a bit worried when I confirmed that he was racing in my same class (Sport). He was looking fast and smooth. All of his practice had showed. Because they don't have age divisions, the class had a wide range of ages (23ish for Ricky to 39 for me). Jason, who was riding the Foes 4X this week (a Heckler last race) is also fairly young. He, too, was looking good on the Foes. The 4th guy, who was riding a KHS Bitch may have been mis-classed. It was his first 4X race, although he said he was a BMX racers, so he figured that Sport was a good fit. He was greatly handicapped with his clipless pedals at the start. It was a bummer that Bob wasn't there with his new ride.

Speaking of the start, although we had seen photos of a concrete starting platform at the top area from Sharky in the middle of the week, nothing had been finished. The old wooden gate was just laying there next to the pad. We were to start one-footed like BMXers in the 70s. Obviously, 4X is on the back burner and low on the priority list for SRC. Nonetheless, the starting method was fair for all riders, and that's what really matters.

Although the dirt conditions were great, my 2.1 tire was a bit more slippery than I liked. Fortunately, I brought a 2.3 and swapped it out, minutes before they called the rider's meeting.

Unlike the previous event, this time, the rider's meeting was shortly after the Super D awards, and actually at a reasonable time. But once again, SRC had problems with registration, and they had to assign new numbers and handed out plates just before racing began. It was fairly disorganized, and most people didn't really know what was going on. We all could have had more time to practice at this time, but we were all unclear when the actual start would begin.

Because there were only four of us in the class, we ran three motos, and the final result was determined by the lowest score based on each finishing position.

Before my first moto, I was in lala land. I didn't really feel like I was there to race. It was kind of odd. I wasn't pumped or anything. I felt like I was walking around a grocery store or something - my mind just didn't relate that I was there to race.

As far as the racing went for me, it was relatively non-eventful. As soon as we were finished with each moto, we had to head back to the start. And for the third moto, the gate was waiting for us, leaving us very little time to rest. Although the hike up the hill is tiring, thanks to Dino, Ricky and I had a break - Dino pushed BOTH of our bikes to the top. Thanks Dino! That really helped. If you ever want to help a 4X racer, pushing their bikes up really helps.

The rubberband starts are random, and after the starting que, the band can snap anywhere from 1 to 7 seconds. For the first two motos, I think he held us there for about 5 to 7 seconds, so I was expecting that for the third moto. So as I began my mental count, he snapped the band. I think the starter caught us all sleeping! Despite my mental state of being somewhere else, I won all three motos from wire to wire, so to speak.

Ricky has a really good passing story that I heard about, and hopefully there are some photos, so I'm looking forward to seeing those.

 

The rubberband start thing really screwed me up. Also my 3 speed that was working fine all week decided to start skipping on my middle cogs, but for my first 4x race it was fun. Lee was pulling me way hard off the gate and was riding really good even while getting used to the tiny bike with his knees hitting the bars. I'm looking forward to the next race.