Race Commentary

Tristram Langford
A great weekend out on the Mountain, weather held on Thursday and allowed for a
fun pre-ride of the XC course. Unfortunately Thursday evening the skies opened
and the rain didn't stop till Friday morning. This made for a very messy course
for the Expert XC Friday afternoon. I crashed hard on the first lap resulting
in not finishing.

The rest of the weekend proved much better weather wise allowing excellent
spectating of the other races throughout the weekend. Sunday was my second
race, the Expert Short Track. The course was open first thing in the morning,
Francis, Chris and I got in a bunch of warm-up laps and a good feel for the
course.

A couple of excellent crashes were witnessed in various parts of the race with
riders getting pushed and shoved in the tight fast racing. I held my position
through-out the race as best I could and made it right through to the end with
a 6th place finish.

Leo Devellian
Mt Snow is my favorite event each year. It's the atmosphere that makes it
special. Got to love all the activity; the exhibition booths, the Pros,
Downhillers, all the bikers in the restaurants and bars. It's a true National
Event. Even in my category more than half the racers came from outside
New England. Many driving all the way from CO and CA. In addition to the
great atmosphere, Mt Snow has the most exciting XC coarse I've ridden. It's
beaten me up pretty good in the past. This year, the course seemed to be
punishing some of the other guys more than me. I was surprised to come
along the #1 ranked expert (40-44) struggling on the wet root descent.
He's from CA and apparently missed all the EFTA "wet root training" events
we have been doing (remember Landmine). On most courses, I'm sure he'd be
cleaned-up and changed by the time I limped across the line. At Mt. Snow,
he was left helpless on the descents as his competitors flew past him. In
the end, I guess that Mt. Snow's sketchy descents leveled the playing field
for some of us. I placed better than I thought possible. Extra thanks to
everyone cheering us on and handing out bottles. I really needed it. Also,
to anyone who hasn't made it out to Mt. Snow, go for it next year. Whether
you race or not it's a great event to hang-out at

Michelle Wilson

So if you race up actual mountains (Bradbury, Pinnacle, Mt Snow) three weekends
in a row are you now a true "Mountain biker"? I always thought we were all
"Trail riders" in the Northeast. As usual it rained for days before the race.
My pre-riding the course in the rain on thursday was terrible. I could barely
climb it and was slip sliding everywhere. I thought no way was I going to
race in this crap. But Dawn convinced me to race so I threw down my 60 bucks
five minutes before registration closed. Luckily the rain had stopped and
the sun was shining on race day. But due to the terrible trail conditions
they cut our laps down to one lap. I was ok with it cause I wanted to see
the downhill competition which was schedule very close to our finish time.
Off the start line I soon fell into last place but kept Dawn in sight. I
finally caught up to her and we climbed up the mountain together. Every
corner we turned it seemed to go up again. We were so glad to have each
other's encouragement to keep climbing. Near the top of the last climb I
fell into a hallucinogenic phase when all of a sudden Dawn yells
"go Michelle". I snapped out of it cranked up the gears. I yelled
back "C'mon Dawn" and away I tore down the single-track. The downhill
was surprisingly drier and somehow I managed to stay on the bike and rode
everything except the stairs (no point in getting hurt there). The
spectators lined up along the downhill section of the course were awesome.
They were yelling go, go. I still can't believe I rode that fast without
sprawling myself all over the trail. Somewhere towards the end of the
downhill my bike picked up a large leafy tree branch which lodged in my
rear wheel. I was on such a roll that I didn't want to stop to properly
dislodge it so I pulled at it while riding leaving debris between the
brake and the rim and continued the race with the rear wheel barely
turning with every pedal stroke. I crossed the finish line and the
announcer announced my name and first place status in my category. I was
shocked and amazed. I never did make it to see the downhill race cause
now I had to wait for the awards. My next strategy was how I was going to
get on the top step of that very large podium. Thanks Dawn for
encouraging me to race and getting me up that mountain. And to all the
cheerleaders out on the course. We couldn't do it without you.

Monica Boyle
The Super D was on Thursday. A long downhill event with some climbing. Best for
free-ride bikes. It was pretty awesome to be lined up with Dawn Burke, Donna
Fletcher and Kate Riedell. We were the only ladies to compete! The big moment
for me was catching Donna, but then she took off. Finished in 8:44. Only two
minutes behind Dawn!!!

The DH on Saturday was a little ugly. The rain made the course a giant
slip 'n slide. The line-up was messed up so I was put last for the
Sport/Novice racers. Poor Andrea and I got tangled up at the crazy rock ledge
and it was "all down hill from there." I still managed to finish 30 seconds
faster than last year....even with all three crashes!!!

Thanks for all the awesome support of the Rage team!!!

Andrew Stackhouse
Do not tempt the mtb gods. Spending a week telling anyone who would
listen that I am too hot sh*t for the competition and was simply
relegating myself to lurk with the proletariat to collect some tin is
a sure fire way to get cursed by fate. My trio of witches manifest
themselves in the form of the guy who ultimately beat me. Before the
race he asked me if I was carrying any tools, to which I scoffed "for
one lap, its not worth the hassle." So after summitting the mountain
out in front, I took off on the grassy decent from the top, and
promptly got my rear tire smoat my a just and vengeful deity. Not to
be outdone by Barry's performance last week, I ran the last 1.5 or 2
miles, including 650' of decending. Sprinting down singletrack with
planar facitus in bike shoes is bad enough, but I got passed by the
friggen kid from the Pinnacle again. Whatever, I'm going Sport at
Moody Park if for no other reason but so I won't lose to him again.

Huge props to my brand new Sole Defense orthodics - my feet felt
FINE after the race. Also, one a couple of the smoother downhills, I
jumped on the bike with a total flat and did not ding my Mavic 717's
at all.

Francis Blesso
On Monday it looked like the whole week would be dry, but it rained all
night Thursday, finally stopping on Friday morning. It was weird not having
to get into race mode as soon as I wake up, as our race didn't start until
2:00, later postponed to 2:30. The course dried out a bit, but it was still
pretty muddy, especially the downhill sections. I guess these are always
very technical no matter what the conditions. This course is either up, up,
up or down, down, down.

As I am new to Expert, I started near the back, which was probably a
mistake. Leo and others from the 40-44 group passed me after about 8
minutes having started one minute behind. I think all the congestion
slowed me down. Next year I'll try to start at the front and avoid all the
congestion.

The only problems I had were a few crashes on the downhills and I twice
shifted my chain between my cassette and spokes. The second time it
happend, I didn't even shift! I decided to no longer use the largest cog.

I had a great race and felt strong for all three laps, which is better than
I felt the other two races this year.

Congrats to Leo for finishing 5th and thanks to Junko for keeping me
stocked with drinks.

Francis Blesso Short Track Expert Men 30+ 20th
Not much to say about this one, I got spanked on right from the start. I
guess I wasn't ready for this type of race. I was able to hang on for a few
laps, but once I lost touch with the group, I kept falling further behind.
I got lapped with about 2 laps to go. Oh well. Hopefully next year I'll be
able to stay with the pack. Tristram lapped me right at the end, pulling a
6th!

Dodd Lyles
Mount Snow was great!

It was a beautiful day for a race and what a great course.
At the start, I was the first one into the first turn and to start the
climb up the mountain. Half way up the climb I went from first to last in
five minutes but I crested the hill and we went into the wooded rocky
section. I passed several people on the course and when we got to the down
hill "WAHOOOOO". It was fast and nasty. It was a great rush flying through
all the rocks, roots and mud. At the start of the second lap, I could hear
my name called over the PA system. It was like I was in a real race or
something. I put my head down and start to climb again. As I finished my
second and Final lap I out sprinted another person in my age group to pick
up 6th place. I did not receive any hardware but I can't wait for this race
next year.

David Currie
Always tough, always fun. Little slick this year, making the climbs kind of
hard. Had a good time.

Barry Petzold
The first mile or so of the race was probably my worst
ever. There were 2 other riders bunched up right next
to me, which caused about 5 near fatal accidents
during the first section of single track. The 6th
crash caused me to drop my chain, and it wedged down
next to my granny pretty badly. It took me a few
minutes to get everything back in order. I was now in
last palce.

Those two pissed me off so badly that when I got back
on the bike, it took me about 30 seconds to catch back
up to my age group and instantly passed about 6 of
them. I dont think i ever saw the 4th place guy the
rest of the race.

Had a really nasty crash about 1/2 way through the
first lap, which caused me to slow down for about 5
minutes. I noticed that it really screwed up my mojo
because I think my second lap was over 5 minutes
faster than my first.

I gave blood at mt snow.