Not so sunny Bear
Brook State Park outside of Concord, NH. Twenty-six (that's right
26) riders braved the elements and headed out of the start in the
Rage / Harpoon / International / Dried Plums colors. A big climb followed
by a ton of twisty, rooty, rocky singletrack made treacherous by rain
(does the sun exist this season?) followed by a treacherous downhill
section ending in stairs (thanks to the Lynn Woods PYT gang for helping
us build some survival skills).
Three women pulled
off wins and 12 riders pulled off top ten finishes (stories and placings
below)! We've got the toughest female riders in the series. Whitney
Brown decides at the last minute to upgrade to sport class AND
WINS THE RACE! Sally Hewitt and Carol Ryan both pulled
off wins in their beginner classes. Judy Keeley and Andrea
Jones take 3rd place spots.
Rage ruled the
Sport class again with Scott Brown and Kalle Karu taking
2nd and 4th spots respectively with Don Grahn taking 6th in
the Sport class.
Adam Bucklin
took 4th overall in the Expert class in his 2nd race of the weekend!
Gary Contic shows up to his first EFTA Expert race and rips
off an 11th place finish (nice job). Tim Sweeney with 13th,
oh, the stories could go on and on....
The play-by-play
of the Clydes race is brought to you by Power O' the Pen, Inc. --
Udder and I proudly lined up with the Clydes class.
This class clearly isn't the sandbagging class it's designed to be.
We look around and see 6'4" no body fat guys now figuring out that
this is their route to free schwag. Well, they've got to go through
us first baby! The race organizers got confused and sent us the Clydes
off with the women -- sorry ladies! They wisely got out of the way
of the thundering herd. Udder and I lined up and picked a great line
through the starting sand bog and emerged from the sand leading the
pack. I managed to stick with the lead pack and started to break away
at mile 8. I rode by Doug Hoch (smiling as he walked his ride
out of the woods) comfortably ahead of the pack -- then SMACK, chain
thrown and I'm heading into the woods head over heels. I couldn't
get the chain back on (took 10 minutes and the help of several small
chipmunks), and a ton of riders went by, but managed to climb back
into 8th by the end(head spinning, crying for mama).
While the lycra
crowd was racing at Bear Brook, the Downhillers were tearing up Sunday
River. Tommy Zarr won the NORTH ATLANTIC REGION CHAMPIONSHIP
with a 1st place finish. Keli finished 2nd in her class (good
job Keli) and Stephe took 7th, Allen Myers 12th and
Matt Mulligan 20th. Stephe then took off on his dual bike finishing
4th and Matty 5th. Stephe is the 'Brian Lopes' of this team -- he
can compete at the top levels of DH, DS and XC (can't wait to see
you at an XC race Stephe).
Team Rage thanks
Harpoon, International Bicycle Centers, California Dried Plums, Pedros,
Panaracer and the rest of our sponsors for supporting what we love
to do...Ride mountain bikes with your logos plastered all over our
bodies!!
