Elings Race Reports

I waited a couple of days for all the race reports to come in and I have decided to post them all in this post. There are some good ones. Thanks for contributing everyone!

so this is the story, saturday got second in the down hill, second in the super d, and that gave me second in state points super d for the year. sunday, qualified for the d/s thanks to team big bear and ed brown, letting me time it out pre cross country race time, raced xc was in first and did not know it, sprint to the finish thinking it was for 3rd and tangled with the guy, went down on the pavement at the finish, ended up second in xc, got a patch on the knee, ran the duel slom corse and got 3rd. what week end, from the chicken ranch banquet to the finish in the med center sunday afternoon for about ten stitches! all is well.

--race

mike abbott

John Goodman was nice enough to take some good shots. I think I have all the Chicken Ranchers below. Enjoy and if you want to purchase any of the shots just contact John.

The Elings XC was fun and brutal as ever today.

The marine layer did help to keep the temps mercifully low, at least right up until the sport class heats went off at 11AM. There seemed to be a solid turnout at the event in general (with the notable exception of the Chicken Ranch Triathlon team members of course). The number of riders seemed to be down only slightly compared to the June Elings race.

From the Chicken contingent I saw only a couple Sport Class riders and no experts or beginners: Philip, Blingerman (& Wingerman), FastTrack, Iron Man Abbott and our freshest Chicken recruit Matthew Perry (won his first beginner class race today AND took the attached photo of me pedaling through a corner, very nice).

Was anybody else out there, Jed on the Slalom perhaps?

They combined my class of 17 riders along with two other classes into a single heat to make for probably the most hectic start I've ever experienced at an MTB race. I found myself zig-zagging in & out of slower riders (what few slower riders there were) up that first fire road climb in a massive pack & hugely thick cloud of dust. Clearly a good argument here for lining up early if you see they've combined start times with other classes on you!

Anyway, in spite of not being prepared at all to "bring it" myself today, I did have a few highlights:

- Playing cat & mouse with a multi-year nemesis that himself crashed twice but still managed to nip me on the last half lap. (rat ba**rd)

- Playing cat & mouse then finally dropping a friend who was in my heat (but not my age group) who I had talked into coming up from Santa Monica to race the event. (priceless)

- Chatting with Mike Abbot post race as he was bemoaning his loss/crash at the XC finish line while bleeding significantly from his knee & hip. He proceeded to casually throw on his flak jacket body armor and prepare to transition over to the dual slalom course to get quickly bandaged up before
his next race. We did all agree that it made sense for the first aid
station to be located at the foot of the slalom course....
Iron Man, you are THE MAN!

Ride On!
Paul

Below are a few more photos that Paul & Rod contributed.


My report goes as follows,

I went as hard as I could for 3 brutal laps. On the final climb to the finish there lay a rather flamboyant rider laying spread eagle on the course screaming in pain, cramps on the hammys it looked like. I jumped off my bike thinking I would run around him (after making sure he was OK, you know
me) but when I straightened my legs wouldn't you know it my quads locked up on me. I'd never had cramps like that before. After standing frozen on the course for some time and watching the other rider eventually get up and go on, lots of riders passing by and offering words of encouragement, "drink your water man!" I was finally able to finish, but lost lots of time. But as I was standing there, it did strike me how nice and caring all the fellow competitors were, even in the heat of battle.

Love to you all.
Taser Friden


Based on the fact that it’s a 10 minute effort I decided to race the SuperD again this weekend at Elings. This would also salvage a bit of my weekend of racing as I was seriously wavering on whether or not I would do the XC on Sunday (ended up not). My fitness has been on the decline since early July and the last Elings XC was painfully still very fresh in my mind. Possibly the hardest 20 mile MTB race I’ve ever done.

Ran into Iron Mike, Dave L. and Dave Jurist before the start and we were all ready for a little suffering. Course was slightly different from last time with a trip down to that lookout/turnaround that is used in the XC. This added about a minute to the times and it wasn’t a fun minute. I swear I’ve ridden the whole SuperD course much faster when I’m racing XC and in a good rhythm. When the gun goes off for a 10 minute race, it’s full gas and severe oxygen debt from the start. I ended up winning my class, the 30-39 open division, Iron Mike was 2nd in the 40-49 open followed closely by Dave L. in 2nd with Dave J. in 5th (with a crash, I believe).

It was also very nice to have an awards ceremony within 20 minutes of finishing. I’ve attached a photo taken by Dave L’s Dad who was at the race. Dave said no helmets on the podium but he didn’t mention anything about gloves so I kept mine on.

I glanced at the State Series standings today and low and behold, I ended up 2nd in the overall for the year in SuperD! This, coupled with my solid 2nd place in the national XC series, and I’m keeping that 2nd place Chicken Ranch tradition going strong!

Now, who’s up for some cyclocross? http://www.socalcross.com/

Pete