What a gorgeous winter day! In the morning the weather was a brisk 34 degrees for the Beginner race and by the end of the Sport race it had warmed up to 54 degrees. This was the first time the BuDu race series has taken us to race at Dash Point State Park. I was a bit leery about the suitability of the location due to the reputation of the walkers and their dogs that tend to monopolize the trails at times, but fortunately did not witness any animosity between the 2 user groups.
The trail conditions were ideal; well packed down and hardly any muddy sections at all. Are you sure this is winter mtb racing in the PNW?
The race started near the park entrance and encompassed about a 1/3rd of a mile ride on asphalt before hitting the singletrack. The road portion served the purpose of spacing out the riders before allowing them onto the trails. Several of the competitors commented that they were surprised how much uphill the course seemed to have and they felt there was limited areas to recover before heading back uphill again. It sounded like most people enjoyed the twisty aspect of the trails despite it making passing competitors challenging.
Team TAI had 7 team members out racing and Jeff and Ann coming to show support to our team.
First race of the day was the beginners with 1 lap. Carolyn Prentice was out today racing
her first race as a Team TAI member. Welcome to the team! Carolyn's training has been hampered the last couple of weeks due to illness, but despite that had a successful race, finishing 3rd place. On the day of the event, the results were not entirely accurate, thus she was awarded the 2nd place medal. Even though Diana Miller raced DH for Team TAI last year, this was her first XC race as a team member and only her 2nd xc race ever. Diana enjoyed the race and was pleased with how her winter training regime has helped increase her fitness.
Next up was Matt Lynch and Allan Beattie racing 3 laps in the expert race. Matt ended up taking 1st place in his category and being the 2nd fastest finisher overall. Unfortunately for Allan, his bike race ended up becoming a duathlon. The master link on his bike chain broke on the final lap, requiring Allan to run 1/2 a lap. He was pleased to report that he still was able to beat 2 other racers despite a broken chain.
The Sport race was the last one of the day. New to the team this year is Chris Brown racing his preferred mode of travel, his single-speed. Chris suffered the frustrating misfortune of dropping his chain 3 times. His race sounded like interval training to me...put the chain back on, ride hard until seeing white stars, pass a few riders, drop the chain and repeat. Ugh!!! After the race Chris was able to diagnose the troubles to a worn bottom bracket. He will take care of that which should significantly improve his racing ability. Despite his bike woes he finished very strong in 5th place.
After racing for Team TAI for 1 year, Chris Liebsch finally has a team kit! It will make it much easier to spot him among the myriad of racers this year.
Erik Beattie was our only junior racing today. He was joined on the starting line with his mom in her first ever mountain bike race. Barbara, a very competent road rider, says the jury is still out on whether she will race a mountain bike again. Erik on the other hand, enjoyed the race and ended up with a 3rd place medal.
Beginners -Women- Age 40+ (1 lap)3 Carolyn Prentice
5 Diana Miller
Sport -Men- Age 30 - 39 (2 laps)15 Chris Liebsch
Sport -Men- Singlespeed (2 laps)5 Chris Brown
Sport -JR Men- Age18 and under (2 laps)3 Erik Beattie
Expert -Men- Age 40+ (3 laps)1 Matt Lynch
13 Allan Beattie
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