2010 Golden State Championships at Fontana, March 22-23
Friday, April 23, 2010 at 01:00PM Race report by Nancy Harris, member of The Path Race Team
So, I practiced the Pro/Expert downhill course on Friday, cleaned the waterfall but could never smoothly execute the tight left hander at the entrance no matter how hard I tried. Seems I have a problem with looking ahead and around tight 90 degree turns (which actually started when I took Drivers Ed in high school). With the limited amount of practice there wasn't much opportunity for "do overs". So, I decided to downgrade to the Sport course and leave the technical riding for another day. For those of you who haven't ridden USAC sanctioned races, women over 40 and men over 50 normally do the "Sport" course unless everyone in your class agrees to do the "Expert" course. Sometimes wisdom takes precedence over desire.
Nancy Harris, The Path team member. Photo: J. Cosco Photography
Saturday I went off to practice the Sport course and ended up doing 6 runs and had a blast (sometimes the blast was from flying gravel and dust). I ended up practicing with Thomas Hurd (Roger Hurd of Romic shocks son) and got to chase him and learn some good lines. I was happy not to be on the Pro/Expert course in the wind. I think Roger got in 2 runs and he was hoping for calm conditions on Sunday.
Oh, and I got to watch Mrs. Mann race XC and followed her around for all 4 laps with my cowbell. She is truly amazing to watch and has improved 1,000 percent.
Decided to skip 4x and attend Miss Julias' 15th Surprise Birthday party instead!!!
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Sunday rolled around and lo and behold, calm skies and really warm temps. Had to wait around for Donny to decide my fate as to which class he would put me in on the Sport course. I ended up in Sport Women 35+ with Kim and Traci. I made sure they were ok with it and then told them I would play "carrot" and they could chase me down. And boy did they!!! Both girls did awesome and I am sure someday soon they'll be passing me by.
Because we went off 1st I got to back up the hill and watch the Experts then the Pros race. I decided to hang out at the end of the infamous waterfall section and it was about a 50 percent stay on upright on the bike through all the categories. There were some spectacular dismounts, but not too many injuries. Poor Jon Buckle ended up tearing some ligaments in his foot but he did finish the race. And Gwinny was simply amazing, that boy can ride!!!
Roger Gutierrez, The Path race team. Jason Cleghorn Photography
Roger ended up 1st and got the cool winner's jersey and the custom grips plus a really nice custom trophy. I ended up first and got grips and a trophy. It was a great weekend of racing but I think I am burnt out on Fontucky for the rest of the year. Gonna skip Woodward and race Bootleg instead and I sure hope the Cal State finals are in Mammoth or some other fun and exciting venue.
Props to everyone who came out and raced, good times fo' sure!!!