Elings Report: Wow! That was hard!

Hello,

We had a great turnout for our local MTB race with quite a few Chicken Ranchers taking the line. In the Beginner Class we had new Rancher David Jurist taking 1st in a blow out, John Nygren with an impressive 2nd, and Mr. Greg Knowles with a hard earned 5th. Ashely Edwards was out there representin' as well but I don't know where he finished. We also had a bunch of mini-Ranchers riding the big-boy course too. Paul Donahoe and Ben Edwards kids made it all the way around the challenging course. Ben's son Sean even has a big ole' Raspberry on his hip as a reminder of how hard the course was but he tuffed it out a finished strong. Which is more than his Dad did since he elected to "sit this one out".

The race of the day was definitely the duel between Brad Jellison's son Christopher AKA "Tick" and Ron Tekada's son Reny. They duked it out all the way around the course, never seperated by more than 10 yards. Tick had a little more in his legs at the end and outsprinted Reny for the win but it was a great race. Brad's older son Bradford also won the Downhill on Saturday. Fortunately Brad's kids inherited their Mothers athletic ability.

In the Sport race we had some excellent results with Mike Abbott pulling down a 2nd place, Gabe Garcia riding strong for 3rd in his class, Brian Bermudes with a "Best Ever" 4th place in the sport 30-34 class with Seth Sproul hot on his tail in 6th. Brad Jellison hung on for a hard earned 5th place in the "Big-Guy" Class. We also had Paul Donohoe, Dave Lettieri, and Philip Friden out there but I'm not sure how they finished-up the full results should be posted shortly.

The battle of the day in Sport was clearly the show-down between the "Crafty Spaniard" Robert Ramirez, and Craig "Blingerman" Zimmerman. They went back and forth for all 3 laps but somehow at the end they practically came across the line holding hands. There are only two possible explanations for this:

1. It was mutual show of respect between two friendly rivals.

2. It was a blatant show of support for California's recent decision to recognize Gay marriage.

I'm going with number #2.

In the Expert Class we had me and Pete Sproul flying Chicken Ranch colors. Pete rode to a very impressive 5th place in the stacked 35-39 class. I rode in the "Old Guy" 40-44 Class and I'm almost embarrassed to say I finished 2nd......again. I can't seem to break out of my 2nd place rut. I was actually trying to finish 3rd just to mix things up but the guy in first broke his chain and foiled my plan. I think next race I'll go for 4th.

When it came time to stand on the podium I didn't have a clean Chicken Ranch jersey to wear so Brad and Rob improvised and wrote "Chicken Ranch" on my chest with a Magic Marker. I think it looks classy.



I had a great time racing and hanging out with all of you and look forward to doing it again. Ride Ranchers Ride!


Matt