2 0 0 1   R A C E  R E S U L T S

Horror at Harding Hill

This, now this, is a mountain bike race - no Horror at all. Great combination of fast singletrack, a few climbs and some slippery roots and rocks thrown in for good measure. The Sunapee Lions know how to put on a race - organized, friendly, and food like only a Lions trailer can deliver.

The racer meeting was a reading of the names of people from New Hampshire who lost their lives on September 11th, followed by a moment of silence and then a mass pledge of allegiance. We all started the race with a lump in our throats.

The highlight of the race was watching the Rage / Harpoon / International Sport Women -- they dominated their class with a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 4th and 5th across 2 classes! The second highlight was in the Expert/Pro race. Nate Ringquist's performance was out of this world. With quite a cast of pros and semi-pros, Nate finished 4th! Adam Bucklin took first and Ben Moody (with a broken wrist even) took 2nd. Andrea Jones won her Novice class and a promotion to Sport (congrats Andrea)!

Read the racers thoughts!

PHOTOS

• Page 1, 2 - from Udder

9th

Here's the racer monologues....

Chris Smith - You probably did not see my less than stellar finish yesterday due to the fact the in occurred around dusk. I endured a lengthy tongue lashing by Joselle all the way home. She took my Sugar saying that I did not deserve it and that she was kicking me off the team. Thankfully Mary calmed her down as she physically started to assault me. Mary, the calm voice of reason, convinced Joselle to give me another chance and she gave me my bike and jersey back, but refusing to be seen with such a "loser" she won't ride up to the VT50 with me and she stated I am on probation.

They should really have painted all the roots orange and put traction paper on all of them. They were very slippery, someone could have gotten hurt. Seriously it was a great challenging course. My lack of technical skills really where well exhibited. I believe I came in 19th with a time of about 2 hours.

Tristram Langford - Wow what a great course, just in the off chance some photos should appear of me crashing I would like to lay down some excuses early on..... it was a hungover Jeff lurking in the bushes that through me off balance! :)

A flat early in the first lap meant playing catch up for the rest of the race, result 17th place. Next time Francis won't be so lucky! :) Looking forward to the VT50!

Jon McNeill - Like Kiwi, the curse of the flats got me on the 1st lap just 2.5 miles in while in 2nd - argh. It's too short a race to flat, but the time to change it cleared out most of the traffic, leaving the singletrack open and fast! I had a blast trying to make up the 10 minutes it took me to change the flat (all thumbs). What a great course. Can't wait until next year. Climbed back from the bottom of the pack at 15th to finish 6th and just about lost my breakfast in the process.

Mike Grappo - Well...I made a 10th place in novice with 1:13 for the 2 laps. What a trail!

Andrea Jones - Looks like I ended my novice career with this race! Hum.... I thought I had it all figured out. Finished 1st in the Novice Vet category with a time of 1:16. Talk about blowing it... my first time as a sport rider will be at Second Start Enduro. Not only will I have to ride 28 miles, which I have never done before, but I'll also have to wear a life preserver! You know waist high water crossing are all relative to your size!!!!!!!

By the way... best swagg of the year. You should have seen all us Lady Ragers shopping at the LBS with our gift certificates. And the poor Guy Ragers just had to stand around and wait for us to finish so we could all get some food. :) As a note for Judy: she claims she was working hard during the ride but every time I saw her she had a big smile on her face and just cruised by.

Michelle Wilson - Leading the "Girl Power Pack" out of the starting line thought hey maybe I can have a good race for once this season. A 1/2 mile later I realize Whoa, I'm not really warmed up enough to continue this pace. Then a wrong turn led to back-tracking into a parade of riders whom I just couldn't get by. Finally, I made my break and tried to catch the front of the pack again but my cramped legs and back just wouldn't let me go any faster and they were long gone. Now another "Bad Day" is being cussed out of my mouth. Somehow I managed to pull off a third place and 5th overall. Apparently, there was some bug or something inside me cause I was sick a few hours after the race and I then slept for 16 hours straight. Overall, a great course and I can't wait to race it again next year.

Francis Blesso - Using advice from billspa and the Team Rage novice racers, I sprinted out of the start to avoid the bottleneck at the end of the meadow. When I got to the end of the meadow and the beginning of the singletrack, there was no bottleneck to be found. It turns out that I must have been the bottleneck, since about 20 racers passed me during that first lap. Kiwi passed me after about 4 minutes, but I hung with him until he got a flat less than ten minutes later. It took him just over a lap to catch up to me, but I think that fast lap must have took all his juice; I passed him on the big hill on the third lap, and finished one place ahead of him, a reversal of our Big Bang finishes.

Jen Ringquist - How about those RAGE WOMEN!! What a showing yesterday. Way to ride with all your heart and soul! The course was soooo sweet! The ups, downs, technical, and single track were simply a blast. Watch out females the rage women are ready to explode! congrats to all of the ragers I think all in all everyone had a great day. How could you not the weather was perfect. Get on your bikes train hard and lets close this season with a bang! Good Luck to everyone.

Sally Hewitt - This was anything but a horror. The course was mostly lovely, if a little moist, the venue was spectacular, what with the views and the weather, and it was great for the spectators, too. Nice race, Sunapee Lions! For my first time back racing since injury and illness of August, I did better than I thought I would. I think I got about 6th out of about 14. Judy raced her first time in Sport, and totally kicked butt, with 2nd overall, I think. And I know she isn't in Rage, but famous 12-yr.-old, yes 12, as Andrea confirmed by asking Stephanie's mother, Stephanie White blew our minds by placing 3rd OVERALL in her first time ever in Sport, too! Joselle kicked butt (4th?), and Kate Walton (8th or 9th?) did great in her first time in Sport, too. Andrea did awesome and got 2nd overall in Novice, and is now also movin' on up to Sport. It was really cool that Udder and Tim came up to take pictures and cheer very loudly! We all dug the swag, which were gift certs. To Outspokin', the LBS. We all went shopping there after the race, and then ate at Murhpy's Grille in Sunapee.

Leo Devellian - It was great to see Team Rage having a fun and doing well at Harding Hill. Race day AM was not looking very promising for me. I got a little carried away while carbo-loading the night before (a mix of beer, rum and wine) and I ended up with only 4 hours of sleep. Luckily, Sunday was a perfect New England day, Harding Hill was a beautiful setting and by start time I was feeling pretty good. The coarse was fast but it had enough single track and wet root sections to keep it fun. I gave it what I had. Broke away from the pack with one other Sport Vet. during the 1st lap. Caught some air time straight over my bars in a high speed crash. My bike and I managed to survive and finish 2nd in Sport Vet. Overall it was a great coarse and a perfect day to be riding. Carol and I are looking forward to more of the same with Team Rage at the VT50.

Judy Keeley - I was nervous about moving up to sport class, but luckily I had a beer-enhanced pep talk from Billspa at Jeff's party the night before which gave me an edge. The best part of the race was coming around the lap point each time and hearing and seeing my fellow rage teammates cheering, that kept me inspired. Jon was yelling wild exhortations at me to catch the woman ahead, totally cracking me up; I was probably the only racer laughing during the race. Lots of schwag was won by all and after the race with gift certificates in hand we converged on the local bike shop where Andrea proceeded to take a longer time making up her mind than I do, which is quite a feat (I was too tired to think so I didn't even try). Thanks also to the non-racers (Jeff & Tim) who braved the early morning hour and hangovers to come out and cheer us on - it was great to see you guys.