Methow Cycle & Sport Mountain Challenge Race Report 6/21/09 by Russ Moul

This is my third year of racing and third trip to Winthrop. All I recall of my impressions from the first year is “what a brutal climb” and “what a sweet decent”. Last year was more memorable. Standing at the start line waiting for our start I heard a disturbing sound, “pssssst”. I commented to Vince that someone was not going to be too happy. Turns out it was me! I was flat before we entered the singletrack. I was running tubeless, so I just aired the tire up with a cartridge, gave it a spin, and hoped the Stan’s would seal it. During the race, I stopped once more before leaving the lower loop to air up, using my last cartridge, realizing this would have to hold – it did. Nothing like adversity to make your ride hard, I was sure I would finish at the back of the pack. I remember struggling up the climb and tearing down the descent; I finished third and was tickled.

Would this year be better? Winthrop is among my favorite courses, it is technically challenging, has a tough climb and rippin’ fast decent. Long climbs are my nemesis so Winthrop is definitely a challenge for me. The weather was cooler this year, overcast, and threatening to rain, so there was no worry of overheating.

This year I got off to a clean start and entered the singletrack in fifth position. At the bottom of the first little downward grade, I was able to move into fourth. I was now on John Roberts’ wheel, he has been beating me all year, rolling through the forest. My strategy – stay on John’s wheel until the climb, then stay close enough that I can overtake him on the descent – I’m a better descender. About a half to there-quarter mile into it, I’m thinking “this pace isn’t that fast, I can definitely push this”, so I called “on the left” and passed the three riders in front of me in one fell swoop. I was in the lead. The trail through the woods has its share of narrow sections and tight abrupt turns and a few big dips to get through. If you can find the flow, you can carry a lot of speed through it and its really fast. I got in my big ring and found the flow. Now, I’m thinking “put time on them, you need a buffer before you hit the climb”. At this point I’m riding well and passing a lot of riders in categories that started before us. Every time I pass someone I’m thinking “that is one more they will have to get around too”.

The section of trail beside the lake is pretty much the same as last year. There are three places where a fair portion of the trail has slide down to join the lake, how refreshing. At this point I’m determined to maintain my pace so I just look past the narrow spots, if you ignore it, it can’t hurt you can it? I pass a single speeder just as we begin the gentle climb up from the lake. Part way up the climb Mr. Singlespeed passes me. Now I’m thinking, “crap, starting to climb already, they have to be closing in”. I make it a point to push uncomfortably hard to stay with Mr. Singlespeed, I stay with him until we enter Magpie. I ask Mr Singlespeed if he is fast on the descent, he pulls off to the right and says, “Go”. I did. I hammered through Magpie, having pre-ridden it Saturday I knew exactly what to expect.

Next thing I know I’m passing through the registration area, the climb looms ahead. Starting up the single-track climb it isn’t too bad yet – I’m still pushing hard enough that I’m uncomfortable. Mr. Singlespeed and I trade places a few times; when he is in front he is pushing me to work hard – good. Next we hit the road climb, I can see about seven riders as I hit the road. I begin to gain on them – all of them. I’m climbing as strongly as I ever have. At this point Mr. Singlespeed pulls past me and I’m beginning to anticipate getting back on the singletrack. I make it a mission to get past all these folks before we hit the single-track. I get by them all – I can’t believe I’m climbing as well as I am. Soon the hard climbing begins. Mr. Singlespeed and I trade positions a couple times. It starts to sprinkle on us; nothing serious. Later I learn the experts got treated to a pretty good rain in this same spot. Eventually, it gets steep enough that Mr. Singlespeed dismounts and I pass him for the final time. The climb is through nice tree cover, rather scenic, "was it this long yesterday?"

Finally, I arrive at the last stretch of road and it is short. Then the 180-degree turn on to the single-track 45-degree climb up the side of the hill. This is a tough climb, but if you pick your head up you can see down on the road. Mr. Singlespeed is entering the single-track a bit behind me and I can’t see anyone else. At this point there is still some tough climbing remaining but it isn’t that far. Now I’m thinking, “get to the top, then descend fast, but not stupid fast, and you’ve got this.”


People may recall from last year the last of the climb, up the “down hiller section” that is terribly loose. This year there is brand new trail (raked in on Saturday) that switchbacks around this. The turn of the switchback has a steep step up in it. I dismounted for this and pushed my bike over the “bump” and up on to the second leg of the switch back. Still no one on my tail – “stay calm don’t do anything stupid.” Now I’m cresting the top, it is all downhill from here. The top part of the decent is loose steep section after loose steep section. There is one I remember particularly well. A steep entry in to a tight right turn with a tree on the right as you approach the turn. I came into this a tad fast and in an attempt to slow a little more planted my front wheel firmly into the loose dirt. It feels like endo time. I save myself the
humiliation of an endo by smacking my knee firmly against the tree. "Ouch, that's going to leave a mark." Now I’m thinking “what where you saying (to yourself) about don’t do anything stupid?” Back on the bike and before I know it I’m on the old road, this is way fast. Then it is back on Magpie, still working hard, there is always someone chasing.

Then, its over. My first Indie Series win!
~Russ Moul

Many, many more photos complements of Joel can be found here

Recap of Placings:

Jr Boys Beg 11-14
2 Jackson Burklund
3 Keegan Fitzpatrick

Jr Boys Sports <18
5 Erik Beattie

Sport Women 35+
7 Jenn Sinclair

Sport Men 35-44
5 Henry Shaw
16 Chris Liebsch

Sport Men 45+
1 Russ Moul
7 Francisco Pons

Expert Men 35-44
1 Pat Fitzpatrick

Expert Men 45+
2 Vince Haag
9 Allan Beattie

Open Men
1 Matt Lynch

Bavarian Bike & Brew Fest 06/06/2009

Last year was my first season mountain bike racing, and one of my most memorable races was at Leavenworth. This is the point in the series where we get into REAL mountain bike racing. Last year I flew down the downhill portion of the course with almost reckless abandon having never even pre-ridden the course. I almost paid for that naivete when I launched off a sizable water bar and landed a front wheelie at speed that was only millimeters from becoming an endo. I survived my one lap in tact unlike another fellow racer who decided to leave the relative safety of his bike and pummel the hill with his body ending his season. That did leave an impression on me and made me rethink my racing strategy. My new tactic coming into the race this year was to pound the uphill half of the course and take it easy on the way down to avoid ending up in traction. This strategy seemed even more sane to me when my group was delayed from starting for about 45 minutes while 2 beginner women were carted off the hill and taken away in ambulances.

The course was finally cleared to go, the weather was great with the sun beaming down on us in a friendly way; not baking us too much. The call to start came over the walkie-talkie and we were off. Some 50 yards up the dry, rutted, dusty fire road I came to the first obstacle. Joel was perched on the side of a hill a few feet above the course trying to catch the attention of TAI riders. I quickly averted my eyes surely saving myself from a nasty fall into a rather deep rut. My energy levels seemed good as I ground my way up the first couple miles of the climb. I was in my happy place when all of a sudden from out of no where, Francisco came blowing by with a "HEY CHRIS!" Jiminy Christmas that guy has been getting faster with every race. I asked him what took him so long. He responded by quickly pulling out of sight.

With the fire road gone we got into single track with the hill sloping up to our left and down sharply to our right. Coming around the backside of the hill the sun got more intense and no longer seemed so friendly. The course snakes its way up to the top without any switchbacks. At the top of the course there is a short flat section, maybe 1/2 a mile long. As I got to the end of the flat section, I heard short, loud tweets from a whistle near the water station right before the start of the downhill section. The watering hole came into sight, and sure enough, there was a referee decked out in his uniform, blowing his whistle and animatedly swinging his arm in circles directing riders down the trail.

The downhill started with a little creek crossing, then it continued down more hard packed single track with lots of swoopy turns (nothing too tight), a few more stream crossings, and of course a few water bars thrown in for good measure. About half way down there's a clearing that offers fantastic views of the valley below. I stuck to my strategy and took it easy going down. I made a point not to hold anyone up by getting off the trail whenever anyone came from behind. At one point about 1/3 of the way down I got off my bike to let a longer train of riders go by. Across from me was another rider doing the same thing. When the last rider came by I noticed he did not rush to get back on his bike. I asked if he was ok. He said no and held up a hand that was cocked at a funny angle due to a broken wrist that was red and swollen. I told him I'd let the crew at the bottom know he was hurt. Off I went again even more determined to go slowly. At about the half way point I came across someone with a walkie-talkie and relayed information about the injured rider. Not much later Bob came blasting by. I gave my usual "HEY BOB" as he disappeared leaving me to eat his dust.

At the bottom of the hill the single track ended at the fire road we started on. As I started my second lap, there were about 6 riders in view slowly chugging up the hill. I kicked into high gear and blew by the riders. I kept up a good pace and caught back up with Bob about 2/3 of the way up the hill. We stayed together for about 5 or 10 minutes before he got tired of my chatter and once again left me in the dust. I ended my 2 laps with an average lap time of 57 minutes, 2 minutes faster than my time for 1 lap last year. I am very pleased with this time considering my slow descents. I am happy to say that no TAI riders (as far as I know) broke any bones this year. However, there was a fair amount of carnage among other riders with at least 9 serious injuries. The moral of the story....know your limits, pre-ride, and be safe...relatively safe, bike racing isn't exactly without risk, which is one of the things that makes this a fun sport! ~ Chris L.

The course was an 8.6 mile loop with 1800 ft of elevation gain in the first 4 miles then 1800 ft descent back down to the start. Beginners raced 1 lap, sport 2 laps, and experts and open 3 laps.

Recap of Placings:

Jr Boys Beg 10 & under (1 lap)
4 Daniel McGee

Jr Boys Beg 11-14 (1 lap)
6 Jackson Burklund
7 Keegan Fitzpatrick
15 Aaron Agudo

Beg Men 35-44 (1 lap)
7 Troy Hopwood
13 Jeff Osborne

Jr Boys Sports <18 (2 laps)
6 Erik Beattie

Sport Women 35+ (2 laps)
12 Jenn Sinclair

Sport Men 35-44 (2 laps)
5 Henry Shaw
32 Bob McGee
36 Chris Liebsch

Sport Men 45+ (2 laps)
5 Russ Moul
11 Francisco Pons

Sport Single Speed (2 laps)
13 Gavin Spomer

Expert Men 35-44 (3 laps)
2 Pat Fitzpatrick

Expert Men 45+ (3 laps)
1 Vince Haag

Open Men (3 laps)
5 Matt Lynch

24 Hours Round the Clock - Karyn Abraham's Race Report

I decided to celebrate my 31st birthday in an unusual way-by riding my bike in circles for 24 hours! I’ve wanted to try a 24-hour race for a long time and decided this was the year to do it. I had no idea what to expect…maybe that was a good thing!

The weekend started innocently enough…that is, until we hit the 20-mile backup at the pass. Duh! We finally rolled into Spokane around 10:30pm and set up camp next to the VanderWaal family RV. I barely slept that night- was it from anxiety or the constant squeaking of port-a-potty doors? The morning of the race was pretty relaxed- my husband Eric installed a new computer for me and we even had a pancake breakfast courtesy of Aaron’s mom.

At noon the gun fires and we’re off to run a short loop. The first lap was fun and hectic as the relay riders sprinted for the front of the pack. I was tempted to hop on one of their wheels but remembered I was only supposed to do a 1:30 lap. The second lap was faster but I noticed that I wasn’t drinking nearly enough (no surprise). I swapped out my bottle for a camelback in between #2 and #3 and it turned out to be a huge mistake. Between the heavy pack, the hot temps and my busted fork I started to get crabby fast. My left elbow was really starting to hurt and I was losing my grip on the handlebar. I shall refer to lap 3 as “the dark ages”. I returned to camp on the verge of tears and wondered why the heck I signed up for this. Thankfully Eric found someone to adjust my fork and the next few hours of riding were much more enjoyable.

I found my second wind after the sun set…in fact, I think everyone did. Sometime after dark a few teenage boys streaked the course and I was definitely awake after that! After I finished #7 I realized that my goal was only two short loops away. #8 and #9 were relatively quick and then I rewarded myself with a nap. I gave Eric strict orders to wake me up after an hour. At 5am the conversation went something like this: “Get up!” (Eric) “Go away!” (me). I stumbled out of the tent at 7am, putzed around camp for an eternity and then rolled out for another two laps. #11 was brutal…I found myself on the verge of tears again and knew this was the end. I came in around 11am and immediately consumed an entire bowl of fresh guacamole. Yum!

I ended up in 7th place, which is better than I had expected. However, next year I'll be sure to scan my chip at noon on the nose so I don’t drop down in the rankings (5th place was only two minutes ahead of me- ugh). Overall I'd say this was a fun, well-organized race and I can't wait to do it again next year :)

I want to give a shout out to the fine folks at GU Energy…I don’t know what I would have done without my Tri-Berry gels! I also want to thank Ann for being my personal hair stylist and cheerleader :)