First Big Race of the Season

This weekend's race wasn't just another race; it was the second event in the Kenda Cup West series, it was the kick-off of the US Pro XCT series, it was one of the many category 2 events in the UCI MTB calendar as well as the first of the three events in the US Cup Triple Crown but for me it was the first opportunity to compete with the best riders in these parts of the world and I don't mean just US riders.

Start/Finish line getting set up on Friday afternoon

As early as Wednesday lots of riders started to converge at Bonelli Park in San Dimas for a chance to test how the legs are responding to the countless hours of training. As always there were many Canadians coming out of hibernation, the Mexican federation sent their entire MTB Team mainly made up of Turbo Team riders all in national colors then there was me.
I made the drive by myself as this event wasn't on my calendar until a couple of weeks ago when another event got cancelled.
After an uneventful 5+ hour drive on Friday afternoon, I made it to the venue just to be greeted by these two guys going for a ride.

Zack and Matt getting ready to pre-ride the pro course

Later we joined the rest of the kids of the AZ Devo team for a pre-ride of the course. Unlike last years course, it was short, more technical with plenty of short, steep, punchy climb and tight, rocky downhills. In other words a true MTB course.
Next morning came quickly and the pro-women were the first one to take on the course. I warmed up as they finished their event then it was time to shine.
Thanks to my hard earned 6 points from last year, I was able to get called up to the line in 44th place or 5th rows behind the leaders.
We got the GOOOOO! at 1:30 for a sketchy prologue lap around the venue then onto the course. There was a lot of chaos on those first minutes of racing. Lots of elbows thrown, gentle and not so gentle pushes and the usual crash. I made it to the top of the first steep climb in the top 30 group. Once on the single track I got into a groove and started picking up riders. I kept it hard but trying not to blow up and this helped me move to the top 20 by mid-race. I rode for the next two laps surrounded by Mexican riders and benefited from the time gaps given to them by their support crew. Eventually I would move up to 15th place by the end of lap 5 of 7... then the engine light came on. My body started to complain and I had to let off the gas, therefore loosing a couple of spots. The fuel light came on at the beginning of the bell lap. By then I had lost a few more spots. I made it through the first portion on the lap on survival mode then lost two more spots on the last climb. I bombed the final descent with blurry vision but very happy knowing that I had given it all I had to hold onto 22nd place on a very stacked field of riders.

Racing strips, that's dirt caked into my head thu the helmet vent holes.

There was another event schedule for that evening, the Super D. These type of event usually consists of a mainly downhill time trial or LeMans start race with a few pedaling sections, however the course we had on Saturday had a lot of going up and less downhill.

If these legs could talk, they would plead to get some rest and a rinse too!

I spun those tired and dirty legs around after the XC event and event took a little cat nap before heading to the start ramp. The sun was starting to set as I rocketed out of the start line and made my way to the finish. I was having a pretty clean run until the downhill on the picture below, where I lost traction accelerating out of the corner at the bottom and landed hard on the fire road gravel. I lost a few seconds getting back up but made it in 21st place.

One of the many technical downhills. Doesn't look to bad, except there was a 90 degree turn onto a gravel road at the bottom of it.

Next morning I made it to the course pretty early for many reasons, one of them well described by this radio station quote I heard on the way there: "you must have been abducted by aliens last night, because you are missing an hour today," but I also wanted to see and support the juniors on the AZ Devo team racing.

Tyler Coplea, Cypress Gorry and Ryan Geiger on the podium of the Cat Junior event

The kids did really well not only taking 3rd, 4th and 5th on the podium but a couple other spots in the top 10. Other remarkable results from AZ riders include Marcus Hayward winning the very competitive Cat 1 race.

Marcus on the top step.

My teammate Steve Hughes took second in the 60+ young category. Nice work considering he lost some ground after an early fall and loosing his chain in the process.

Steve representing BicycleWorld.TV and AZ at Bonelli

Keith Koller also podium and Daryl Mackenzie just missed the podium with a 6th place finish. The Polley brothers also did well in their races around mid day on Sunday. Nice work by the Arizona contingent.

I am smiling to make up for the face of pain I'll have on for the next 20 minutes

After a long wait I finally kitted up for the last event, the short track. I got a good warm up on the trainer to prepare the body for 20 intense minutes of racing.
I got called up to the line around 15th place, so the second row start was a nice incentive to the previous day's work. We blasted off the line and the group stayed together for at least half of the lap. Once into the dirt sections the dust built up and the crashes started. I managed to avoid any problems including a rolled tire by Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski near the start/finish area as we transitioned to the pavement. I managed to gain a few spots on every lap and caught up to the chase group.

Start of the short-track

Barely hanging onto the next well on my way to a 9th place finish at the Short Track event.

Then on lap 7 of 10 after JHK's tire problem, the chase group sat up, so I attacked them, which in retrospective was not a smart move considering the group was made up of names such as Sam Schultz, Raphael Gagne, Barry Wicks and other big names, however this silly move put me temporarily in 4th place. Of course it didn't last and I ended up getting passed by the entire group, however I fought my way to the tail of the group and clawed back into 9th position by the end of the race to close a relatively successful weekend of fat tire racing.
Next up, I am switching to the skinny tires to participate in the Tucson Bicycle Classic stage race starting this Friday. Until then, keep the rubber side down!