2 0 0 1   R A C E  R E S U L T S

Second Start Enduro

Mix fast, bermed singletrack with 6 miles of technical roots and rocks; add in military exercises, an ATV / moto-cross day and what do you get? A great race called the 2nd Start Enduro! Held just outside of Concord, NH on land that stretches the definition of multiple use (nothing like machine gun fire and explosions to keep you moving) this race is just what the doctor ordered to wrap up the season.

The Team cleaned up again!!!
28 Racers
11 Top Five Finishes
4 (at least) New England Championship Series Top 3 titles
Lot's of smiles.

Read the race briefs!

And read the racers' thoughts!

PHOTOS

• Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 - from Judy and Udder

21st

Briefs/Highlights

We started the morning in the comfort of 'Chez Rage' (Doug's 34-foot motor home) parked just steps away from the start finish line with last minute team sponsor sign additions. This race is an Enduro format and sends groups of 10 riders off in 1 minute intervals. That makes things a bit tricky as you never know just how the other people in your class are racing that day (unless they pass you), so you've got to ride your own race. One flight of racers had 6 Rage / Harpoon / International riders.

Out on the course a fast 5 mile section closed into tight, very technical singletrack (the promoter apologized in advance to the Novices as this section of the course was intended only for the Expert / Sport course). The morning rain turned the roots and rocks into a slippery obstacle course with some sand pits mixed in for good measure. The ATV / moto-cross tour provided some additional obstacles when the course opened up to faster, bermed turns. The Sport/Expert riders then got a taste of the "Wall of Death" one of the steepest and scariest looking 100 foot descents I've ever seen (we saw one rider that looked like a bobsledder -- on his back, bike on top of him, hanging on for dear life as he pummeled down the descent in a pile of dust). A gravel road section gave the roadies an opportunity to make up some time at the end and the course ended with several hairpin turns on the Sugar Hill Speedway.

One of the highlights of the day was watching young Nate Ringquist (just 19 years old) head out with the Pro/Semi-Pro riders. Nate stayed on the wheel of Troy Michaud for the entire race and finished 8th in the Pro/Expert class -- wow!

A few more highlights:

Gary Contic continues to ratchet up his racing. A few months ago he was complaining of getting promoted to Expert. This weekend he's finished 4th in the Expert Class!

Whitney Brown won the Sport women's race (Rage women took the top 5 spots!) and Michelle Wilson won the novice women's race.

Adam Bucklin appeared to wrap up the 10 race New England Championship title! Ben Moody appears to be a lock for 2nd overall in the Series.

It appears that Leo Devellian may have done the same in the Sport Vet class.

Dave Currie, Scott Smith and Kalle Karu won or placed in the top 3 so many times before their mid-season promotions to Expert that they will likely place in the top 5 for the Sport series championship.

Jon McNeill locked in the 2nd place spot in the overall series for the Clydes class.

Kiwi (Tristram Langford) broke into the top 10 in Sport with a 7th place finish.

Thanks to Judy, Cookie, Bill Spa, Mary, Cheryl, the Ringquists and the rest of the gang (sorry if I missed someone) for cheering us on out on the course!

Now it's time to get planning for the end of season awards party at the Harpoon Brewery (watch for a date) and time to start waxing those boards (the snow is coming!).

Racer Thoughts...

(make sure you grab your coffee first!)

Stef Alpert
The Second Start Enduro was my first - and last - race of the season. I chose this race because the Kiwi said that it's a good race for beginners. Man, was he ever right! During the racers' meeting however, the organizers said that the novices were getting the raw end of the deal with 6.5 miles of wet rocks and roots. I began to think that the Kiwi was wrong. Once I got on to the race course it didn't matter... I was having so much fun... Rocks... Roots...I rode it all. I was a bit pissed off when the Rage guys who started 7 minutes after me passed me... But I rode on. Ragers cheering along the way, including the Steve Cook-mobile and BillSpa inspired me to ride even harder. I finished the race and checked the results... I was 5th out of 5 racers... great... I checked again, and in the end I finished 5th out of 6 racers Whew... I wasn't last afterall.

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Tom Walker
Well my first season of mountain bike racing was a blast and managed to cap it with my best finish ever despite my cold. I finished 8th in the Novice Senior II with a time of 1:52:59 (no dammit, I will not round it up to 1:53. I worked hard for that second). Ragers are a great group and no small part of the reason I had such a good time on my bike this year. Thanks guys!

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Jim Urbine
I lined up with the other 9 racers due to go off with me, it just so happened that 5 of them were also Ragers. We talked about setting up a pace line. That worked for about 15 seconds into the race. The first part of the course was awesome. I finally caught up to the cuddly one (he took off earlier) I chased him for a while until he decided it would be faster to leap off of his bike and fly down the hill like superman. A dull thud and some groaning led to me passing him. A few minutes later, I saw Jonny Mac. I spent the rest of the race getting within 20 ft of him in a technical section, only to have him take off out of site in the non-technical sections. It was also nice to see two groups of Ragers along the side of the trail cheering us on. Final time was 1:56:49 good for 13th!

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Jeff Udell
This was my first Second Start Enduro and I loved the way the started us off in groups of ten! No bottlenecks! There were SIX ragers starting at my start time and it was AWESOME! We pace-lined for a matter of 2 whole minutes. That gave us such an amazing edge! ;-)

So we are all flying down the first section of the course and it was a blast...that is until I turned the corner to see a rear wheel and two feet in the air. I'm like...WOW I THINK THAT'S SHAWN!!! Man what an endo! Shawn got back up and as he was about to pass me he said, "I was doing great until I endo'ed"

But I thought he said,"How about we go on a date, I'm well endo#ed" (replace # with a w)

I was about to sound my whistle because I thought he was getting too close and that he maybe wanted to cuddle but then he thankfully took off! ;-)

Then us novice folks had to hit the 6 miles technical crap where some of the climbs were nothing more that wet lose rocks the size of ten-pin bowling balls. But after that, the rest of the course was SO FUN! What a great way to finish off a season!

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Sally Hewitt
It was definitely an off day for me! I was tired to start with, and felt kind of like a zombie by half way. Maybe it's because I ride a Voodoo?! The wet was not my friend. As for exciting parts, I did a fine superman impression into the woods on a descent and a sapling grazed my ear, ripping my earring off! Lovely. My leg went into a cramp as I exited the bike, and Joselle came along with concern, wondering what accident had befallen me this time. Another time, a snag from a pine tree poked me in the middle of the neck as I rode into it. If I'd been going a little bit faster I would have been doing a geyser impression. I took full advantage of the aid stations because I lost my water bottle of Endurox and ate all my Power Gels. I was just glad to finish! As for my placing?! Not great! I got last in my age, out of 5, and something like 12th out of 15 in the field. Better luck next year!

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Tim Post
What a terrific race! The course was excellent... loads of fast fun twisty singletrack interspersed with some challenging technical climbs and rock gardens. While my official placement was way, way back in the pack, I felt pretty good throughout - while doing no serious training or preparation beforehand - nonetheless, I had a very enjoyable race and was surprised to see almost everyone walking up the hills I rode. The most gratifying part of it, however, was seeing all the Rage jerseys all over the place - especially at the start where we lined up seven across! I hope someone got pictures of that...

Alex and Christopher had a great time as well. They raced in the 6-8 year old class and garnered 4th and 6th places respectively. They had a ball at the post-race festivities and wanted to thank everyone for the bottlecaps. They especially wanted to thank Mary for hanging out with them while their dad raced.

Congratulations to everyone who raced and thanks to all the non-racers who showed up to cheer. Special thanks to Homer for the use of the motorhome and Cozy for the BBQ. Extra Special thanks to Jonny Mac for organizing a superb event yesterday, but more importantly for driving the wildly successful TeamRage racing program all year and building it into the most uniquely fun and equitable team on the planet! Thank you Jon, for a great season.

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Michelle Wilson
It was a chilly start on the line with Heath, four other guys, and a female. Heath bolted out off the line and I never saw him again. Way to go, Heath (his first race ever)! I got to the motorcycle berms and just imagined my bike with a motor and screemed into every turn and over every bump. It must have worked cause I was having a blast and ended up with the best race I've ever had. The course was awesome and technical, my kind of trials. I was smiling and cruising the whole way. I didn't know how well I did when I finished but I didn't care 'cause I had so much fun and for once I didn't bonk. As it turned out I place 3rd overall in novice and 1st in my age catagory. A nice way to end the season and an uplifting feeling of why mtn biking/racing is so much fun. Thanks to all those out there cheering us on. It was a great motivator to hear/see you all. I love RAGE/Harpoon. I can't wait until next year. I'm sure my promotion (demotion) to Sport is just aound the corner.

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Leo Devellian
Highlight of the race for me was taking a straight line down the "Wall of Death" with a full head of stream. The hidden sand trap half way down put me into a front wheelie as I passed four racers who were running down with their bikes on their shoulders. The front wheelie passing move was a big hit with the spectators. It looks like the good finish in sport class has kicked me into expert and that I will be eating a lot of dust next year.

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Adam Codega
I thought the course was SUPERB. (No crashes! Woo!) The singletrack was in nice, slick condition with only a few sand areas. Motorcycle track has to be my favorite. The bridges were fun, but combining them with a quick downhill and a turn caused many people to crash at the first one. No mud or water, which was cool. The rocks would have been better if I hadn't bonked. I was riding really well in the middle of a pace line and then, after about 2 years of rock riding, I flatted at mile six, a relatively small problem but then I flatted physically at mile 8 and couldn't refuel until I was at the mile 11 checkpoint. It really slowed me down, with a time of 3:20:06. (Novice) And they spelt my hometown wrong on the race report. (It's only got one E). Races always seem better in NH I think.. One thought, this course would have been a lot of fun as a 6 mile, two lap course with just the motocross singletrack.

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Whitney Brown
I won the Veteran Women's Sport race with a time of 3:32. I do want to note that I attempted to ride up the bridge at around mile 23; by the time I realized that it was too damn slippery, it was too late. My feet came out from under me, and the bike on top of me. My thigh is now one HUGE bruise! Regardless, this was the most fun I've had on my bike ALL SEASON! The course was incredible--a combination of the Fells, Massabesic, and Bear Brook--and all the more amazing with the colorful leaves everywhere.

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Heath Huffman
I had what I thought was a great first race. I had no real accidents to speak of, and passed quite a few more people than I was passed by, so I thought I had my category in the bag. Unfortunatley 8 others in my age group of Senior 2 came in with faster times than I. The winner of my category posted a time of 1:43 and I came in 9th with a time of 1:53:36. Still a good time considering.

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Shawn Broderick
Well cuddly shawn didn't do to bad... he actually got 7th in his division Men's. Senior 1, novice, and a crash ridden time of 1:58:57 and glad I could be of help :)

(Ed. note: So could cuddly shawn actually be fast?? Would wooda thought! :-)

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Tristram Langford
Wow another great course, the warning about military training going on was of some concern, I was figuring a tank would be tough to bunny hop! The track was way different from last year and very slick with the rain that had fallen. A big thanks to all those that turned up for support and cheering duties, it's always great to see so many familiar faces, and it does make a big difference out there! I had a good time out on the course, but certainly felt the effects afterwards, I was pretty incoherent for a few hours, nothing that sleep couldn't fix though, just glad I wasn't on driving duty, thanks Sally.

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Jon McNeill
When I volunteered to help organize things last year, Brian Bonner told me that it would be a blast and it was more than that. Like Tom said above, this team is made up of a great group of people. I don't know what's better -- racing or hanging out with you guys after a race (not to mention the crazy training rides during the week).

I hadn't had the desire to get on a bike in two weeks after the VT50, but something made me want to do this last race. I'm glad I did. Six of us got to start together and we followed Tim's lead around the hairpin turns on the race track. I knew that Jim Urbine was a technical monster, so I figured if I could put on the gas for the first 5 non-technical miles, I might have a chance when it came to his speed on the technical stuff. I didn't count on flying down the first real downhill section though. I was so proud to still be on the bike after wheelie-ing over a root in the middle of the descent that I forgot to look up and bam! Instead of using tires to cross the bridge, I used the right side of my body (note to self: bad idea).

After untwisting myself from the bike, I looked down and it was ugly. What do you do when you're not thinking straight? Get back on the bike? I hear the voice of Shawn ("hey, is that a Rager? Get back on the bike!") and throwing good judgement out the window, we rode off. Sure enough, a couple of minutes later, Jim Urbine came around the corner with a big smile -- he was loving the technical section. We played cat and mouse for the rest of the race. Finally the last road section appeared and a Cycle Loft guy we had started with tried drafting. Nothing ticks a big guy more than someone taking advantage of the wind tunnel we create -- especially when it's another Clydesdale. I swerved back and forth trying to get the guy off of my wheel and finally turned hard and hit the brakes and he flew by. We ended up going back and forth up the road and after winding the last hairpin, we were in a two-up sprint (the first time I've ever done that) and it was a blast. Team International beats Team Cycle Loft!

hehehe