Race Commentary

John Kinnee
This race went far better than my first race of the season, the Pinnacle.
I'm trying to figure out whether there has been an EFTA race in the past few
years where the course has been completely dry. I rode by myself most of the
race, not passing many or getting passed so I was surprised to finish 11th
out of 15. I was one of a few to be riding full susp but on the Moody course
where there isn't much climbing, I thought it helped. It's those fast starts
that are so important. I rode the gravity cavity 3 out of 4 times but I
could have used less energy pushing the bike. My descending skills are
still weak, especially when the trail is twisty, which is discouraging
because I lose the time I made on a climb. If I can ride more in the big
ring on the flatter sections and stop screwing around reaching for my front
and rear lockouts I should be able to move up a few spots. And I've had it
with Camelbaks because those things are so annoying to deal with during a
race. Anyway, I'm hoping for a dry Landmine because it was dangerous last
year and I'm terrible on the wet stuff.

Dawn Kaczor
i had a great racing weekend! i did my first ever dh race and had a blast.
came in second place in front of ANDREA. woohoo! then she brought me back to
earth in the xc taking second place. you rock andrea! (aren't you glad i
locked you up in the room at gunpoint the nite before the race, so that you
could rest instead of stay up too late and drink way too much?!) i had so
much fun on the xc course. i felt strong and comfortable on my $$$bike. the
twisting, rooty singletrack was fun to negotiate. the cavity was a little
too sandy for my liking but it was fast and fun on the steep part. i feel
that i finally got my mojo back and was speeding and carving my way thru the
course. i gave my all and came in 4th out of 9 veteran women - the largest
turnout ever for our class in the series so far. that was great and so was
the turnout of racing rage women. another pleasant surprise was not having
to wash my bike after the race. it was still clean! that was a bonus for
sure.

Tim O'Loughlin
Had a great campout the night before in the pouring rain...but felt pretty
good for the start. Tried to reign my start in but the guy leading was just
too slow off the line so I bolted about half way to the "Cavity". Lead
until 3/4 up the big hill on the other side of the road when the guy who's
been beating me senseless the last few races came cruising by. Caught him
on the downhill on the other side and we traded the lead a few more times
back to the start. On the next climb of the larger hill I tried to get out
of the saddle and not let him catch me but he made his move in the same
spot as I knew he would. This time, however, I was waiting for it and put
on a mad sprint over the crest and down the other side. Never saw him
again...felt pretty good. Enjoyed getting my first place headband (the
stupid medal doesn't fit over my fat head).
Looking forward to Wompy...my home turf

Hank Kells
This race was a blast. There were three of us in Sport Clydes. I was racing
with the lead women in Sport Class for most of the race. They would pass me
on the technical singletrack and I would pass them on the climbs. What a
beautiful day for a race!

Andy Sherman
I was feeling good about the race, just cruising along, into my final
push on the third and final lap after Gravity Cavity and the road
crossing. Without any kind of forewarning, my wheel (Mavic CrossMax
XL) gave a loud crack and starting spinning without catching. Sure
enough, the hub wasn't engaging. This happened to me last year, too,
at the Freetown race. I played around with it for a while but
couldn't get it to engage again, so I bailed out and headed off the
course. A total bummer. I'm not going to trust this wheel/hub in a
race so I bought a new wheel with a Chris King hub and hope that
eliminates or yet another failure point on the bike. These
mechanicals drive me nuts.

Joe Famely
One of my favorite races was made all the sweeter because it was the first
race on my new hardtail. Highlights included making it through the Gravity
Cavity and up the hill on my last lap...lowlights included getting caught
and passed (for the second race in a row) by Barry in Sport Sr II.Slow down,
Barry, what's the rush? Thanks, Duncan, for the bottle handoff.

Matt Juros

For two laps I raced, I raged.
On the third lap I bonked and crashed then crashed again.
I kept pedaling and luckily ran out of race course before I ran out of
gas...I survived but just barely.

Jake Berry
After sitting on the starting line for 30 minutes and waiting for the
medics to clear out a mangled men's masters' participant we were finally
off with a fairly good size group of Single Speeds with a pack of 12
people. I settled into a groove and road at my own pace. It was
impossible to keep track of who was who during the race as we started
after some people had already completed a lap. I felt like someone tied
a brick to my wheel on the up hills but the down hills were great and
that's where I made up a lot of ground on people. EFTA botched the
results again and didn't have me listed, when I complained they put up
the incorrect results from the race and had me in 6th instead of 3rd. I
give up on EFTA they suck.

Joseph Stein
This was the first time at All Out for me, and I really dug this course. A
good mix of technical and single track for me. Although I lost quite a few
positions at the start, I rode reasonably strong and steady for most of the
race. In hindsight, I should have pushed myself harder since I wasn't as
fatigued as I should have been by the end of the race. Gained some nice
speed down the sand chute, but always seem to take the wrong line at the
bottom, forcing me to walk up the hill. You thought I would have learned
the first time. No crashes, a few dabs, and lots of fun. Definitely looking
forward to Landmine and 24hrs of Great Glen.

Brian Nash
I wasn't looking forward to this race. Nursed a sore
back earlier in the week and then after a really bad
night sleep took a couple wrong turns on the drive
there and barely made it in time to register (it
helped that they delayed the start a bit). Turned out
to have a really good race! Got in the back of the
pack at the beginning which made things a bit slower
than liked when we hit the singletrack, but I made up
some time on the climbs. Great course and great
weather! Many thanks to the Rage cheering squad!

Reenie Greene
What a great day for a race! Awesome course; Sunny,
but not hot - dry, but not dusty.There was long delay
at the start line while they pulled an injured racer
off the course, so the first lap was a cold start and
went by in a fog of oxygen-deprivation. I settled in
on the second lap and got in a nice groove that I kept
through the rest of the race. Thanks to all the Ragers
who stuck around to cheer on the experts. With the
multiple laps and the multiple cheering sections on
the course, there was plenty of motivation!

Scott Kirschner
Drove up with Brian Nash on a beautiful day, feeling good, but we
got a bit lost and thought the race was starting at 10. Great race,
but the organizers are a bit flaky (don't you love the
directions?). The usual Sport Vet hoard lined up and took off like
a thundering herd, and I was towards the back just wanting to run my
own race. The new trails were nice, except for that "trail" cut
into the side of the hill that deteriorated after each lap even
though I cleaned it each time. Plus, I almost killed myself on the
new stuff hitting a hidden stump full on bringing me to a complete
stop Caught my old novice vet bud, Matt Juros, in the first lap and
did more passing than being passed. Caught Frank Grant on a climb
and just managed to beat him (thank, God!).

Chryss Buzzell
The course was fun. It probably would have been better if I had trained a
little, or at least ridden the bike in the previous 2 months. It was great
to see so many ragers there, excellent racing everyone.

Sally McInnis

Moody? It was a sunny day, therefore I raced! The
dry conditions alone meant that I enjoyed the race. I
raced hard, had some crashes, and overall, I had a
good time. Thanks for cheering, everyone.

Alex Post (via his proud Pop Tim Post)
Moody Park was my first real race, and even though I got 7th, it was a
blast! I'm only 11, so I don't get to ride alone very much, and the freedom
was awsome! My favorite part was the Gravity Cavity, it was kind of scary
but all together it was really fun. I aiso enjoyed cheering for my team,
Team Rage. Also, hearing the team cheering me on gave me the extra boost I
needed to finish the race. I hope to be back next year.

Chris Smith
At least that is what the results say now, more on that in a bit.
The course is one on the less technical courses in the series but
I've been spending my time road riding and running and my mountain
bike skills as poor as they were before are now just dismal. I was
slipping on every little root and rock. When I finished I was
surprised at my placing. Then I realized they had me placed ahead
of Jake which I knew was wrong. I brought this to the attention of
the officials but nothing changed when the results were posted to
the EFTA site. Subsequent e-mails from both Jake and I have not
changed the results. I don't know what my time really was or my
place but my name is correct and I did race a single speed.

Frank Grant
Had fun as usual at Moody Park. Still trying to
recover from the humility of losing to Scott Kirschner
even though it was less than a minute ;) Trying to
tell myself it was because I raced the Arrowhead DH
the day before. Still getting passed all the time
while climbing which is my obvious weakness. I rode
most of the technical stuff including the gravity
cavity which is all that really matters :) The new
singletrack was nice but not well thought out due to
the ridge it ran along which was deteriorating
quickly. I think I'm going to race DH more!

Whitney Brown
Fun race, even if it was a tad on the hot/sunny side. Psyched that I made it
down the Gravity Cavitity 4 times (remember 2 years ago when I endo'ed & ate
dirt in front of everyone?!) and up it 2 times! Thanks to everyone that
cheered, as well as to those racers that hit the course before the experts
and packed down the GC sand.

Maxine Conifey
I love this race the plunge is just whoo hoo & the
single track is brill.

Had a wicked slow race due to lack of training the
week before and a rather large breakfast which decide
to lie on my stomach like a lead weight. I did no
riding at all that week until I pre-rode part of the
course on the Saturday afternoon so it was kind of
pre-judged that I would not be any real competition to
anyone..as if I am.

Anyway my only aim was not to get lapped but even
after puking on the second lap & flying down the
plunge the lead weight stayed with me and I was lapped
by the Sports Men about 1mile form the finish boo hoo.

Maybe next year I'll try again.

Judy Keeley
For the Arrowhead race I decided to come out of my downhill racing
retirement (I retired after a long and illustrious downhill racing
career of one race, Mt Snow last year). It was a lot of fun, the
course was relatively easy for downhill, and I did not get injured.
Yay! And even though I finished last I was still going really fast.
;-)

Andrea Jones
Cannot say enough about how much fun these races are because of the locals.
Every year they go way out of their way to make it a super fun time.

Arrowhead was a Rage fest. The show of Raging Chicks alone made it their
largest ever field of female racers. The course had a new section that I
liked. It was less fire road and more single track. I thoroughly enjoyed
myself. Hats off to Monica for not only taking first place in our race but
also riding the expert course. Moody park highlights were trying to get
more and more air each time I hit the log jump and getting more and more
speed on the plunge. All and all a good day ... well that is except for
throwing my half full cup of water at two spectators … oops! :0

Dan Huwitz
I coulda been a contendah. Except I fell twice (on the exact same spot
in each lap), the second time really dinging my right shoulder good.
(At least I spread my shoulder injuries around, so that I am symmetrical
in the sides which are painful to sleep on.) If not for time lost with
the falls and the stop to water the vegetation, I may have been in
contention for a podium spot, which I missed by 4 1/2 minutes. Oh well,
it was a fun race other than that.

Tom Varga
This was my first time at Moody park and I loved it. I felt good, took lots of
chances on the downhills and survived! Unfortunately, I didn't have it in me
to keep up with the leaders, although I really tried. What a blast it was to
catch big air on the jump. I would so love to get a copy of the pictures that
were being taken there. So, where are they? :) Also, what a great spectator
event. I'll have to invite the family to watch next year.

Anne Noga
Was happy to finish race in one piece! Broke chain on course pre-ride
Sat afternoon. Thanks to the race coordinators, I was able to get a
new chain and have it replaced by bonfire light Sat evening.
Unfortunately my middle ring was also toast so I had to race w/only
big n small rings. For a course that is made for middle ring I was at
a great disadvantage. I tried shifting gingerly from big to small
but still managed to drop my chain about 5 times. Getting on and off
the bike kills your race momentum. Then there was the bridge crash.
Didn't appear to be that slippery until I started to fly across it.
I'll take 7th versus a DNF.

Barry Petzold
Great day at the races! Last year i DNF'd this course
due to an exploding Michelin, so I was out for some
payback this year.

As usual, there was about 30 people in my age group,
and im a slow starter, so i was behind a pack of 20+
people when we hit the first singletrack. Luckily I
passed about 20 of them on foot at the top of the
gravity cavity.

After that, I kept pace with a few Sport vets that
cought up to me, and i think that helped me pass a few
people.

Also had a great day at the Arrowhead Downhill the day
before. I won some cash!! Im a DH racer now! NOT!