What can one say, but racing at Bootleg Canyon always rocks!!! We had wind on Saturday and wind, rain and snow on Sunday. Thanks to "Crash Collins" for having the fortitude to promote and host his first Super D and DH race. Recognized a lot of friendly faces all part of the volunteer staff (thanks for your efforts!!!!).

It ended up being Roger, me, Jonathan, Troy & Family, Jason Simpson (Foes), Brad (sandbagger), Mandy and Russ.

It was Mandy and Russ' 1st trip to Bootleg and even though they decided not to race, they had a blast and want to go back soon. They both brougth their Fontana DH bikes (shorter travel/single crown forks) and found that they got beat up a little to much in the rocks (sore forearms).

The Sport/Beginner course was Snakeback to Reaper and the Pro/Expert course was Armegeddon to Reaper. The course was fast and tacky for Sunday's race run.

Brad ended up winning his class, Troy got 3rd and Roger and I both got 1st.

At the end of the day I remember why I like racing at Bootleg, 4 - 6 minutes of pure heaven!!!!

The highlight of my day was helping the 2 girls in the Sport 19-29 class that raced in front of me. At the start line they asked if I had any good tips. I said "remember to breathe, smile on the way down and most of all have fun". They both had a great time and said the smiling really helped!! They both ran up to me after my run and said "Wow you were realling flying, you pinned it!!!". And that's how the geriatic set gets r done!!!

Mar 8 & 9, 2008

So on Friday I was still on the fence, race XC or just DH???? The weather was due to be warm and wind was predicted....Finally decided Friday night that I would attempt it one more time, what the heck. Roger cleaned and oiled the bike and made sure I was ready to go.....

Got to the staging area and found that there were only 2 of us in the Sport Women 35+ class. Donny gave us the option of doing 1 lap instead of 2 so we jumped at the idea. I decided it would be a good test because I would be able to go all out for 1 lap. Having only raced in the Sport class at Fontana, I have only raced 2 laps.

So, off we went and I decided to push as hard as I could without passing out or puking....I had the lead going out and then got passed on the asphalt uphill. I followed my competition on the 1st fun flowy singletrack and waited for a place to pass. She slipped on one of the short uphills and I was able to pass and then I hammered as much as I could and ended up winning my class. My time was 52 minutes. My low heart rate never dropped below 171 and the max was 180.

And to my surprise, not only did I win my class by 1:44 minutes, I ended up winning the Winter Series overall. I was completely in shock as I was hoping for at least 3rd. I guess I will now have to race XC at the Fontana Nationals and the November annual race and see if I can win the yearly overall and get a pretty winners jersey just like Allison's!!!

And then there was DH.....The wind decided to pick up but fortunately it was not too bad. I had a good solid run and ended up 2nd in Expert Women 35+.