The Stampede

At home it had rained from when we woke up Saturday morning, and just finished sometime Sunday morning, so we knew it was going to be a wet race!  But the sun was starting to shine, so we thought we might luck out and the trails would dry up a bit.  On the drive up to Devil’s Backbone Brewery, the further we drove the more rainy it became, with ominous low dark clouds and fog.  But we wouldn’t be swayed, a race we had registered for and race we shall!

The race starts off with a 1.8ish mile climb to the top of Brent’s Gap.  That sure separates out the racers very quickly!  The climbing didn’t end there, with climbs up Horseshoe Mountain.

The trails were very muddy- I ate a lot of mud and was picking dirt out of my ears after the race.  The two very steep descents this course was known for I just slid down with my brakes lightly on, fishtailing and trying to stay upright.  I’m not sure what others did, but it was a rush!  Loved the course- you could tell in dry weather it would be very fast.  Very narrow single track, with some double track thrown in.  Lots of climbing and descents.

I knew that Tom Richeson, a climber, would do well in this race and so he did- he ended up getting 2^nd in Expert Vet Men (35+) and 3^rd overall!  Yay Tom!  Other standings and podiums from a die-hard group of Design Physics riders:  Jim Fisher 2^nd Sport Men 36+, Byron Gonzales 3^rd Beginner Men, Sonya Gagnon 3^rd Sport Women, and Matt Juaneza 7^th Sport Men.  Full results here:  http://www.cycleva.com/S12results.html.  Jim had brought his friend Tom Jeffrey, it was Tom’s first mountain bike race.  Tom ended up placing first over Jim, does Jim regret bringing him?  Hah hah.  I don’t think so.  Do I sense a potential new team member?

Thanks to the owners of Devil’s Backbone Brewery for hosting the event and for letting us use their private land for the race.  Thanks also to Woody for putting on a very well organized event- course was well marked, many course marshalls to keep everyone in line, great free lunch and beer after, and I must say a very nice payout indeed!  Also a shoutout to our teammate Thom Flynn, who had wanted to race but instead sacrificed and was a course marshall, stopping traffic so we could get back on the highway safely for each of our laps.  Thanks Thom!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plassmans Tour of Richmond



So the idea was thrown out there, and before long a group had decided that a 100k trip around the local Richmond trails would be a good idea.  Six members of the team joined at Forest Hill Park to start the day.  I guess none of us were thinking about the parks farmers market when we picked this destination, we had to fight for parking spots and weave between cars to gather in a spot.



The route was planned by Plassman and was sure to include the best of JRPS and surrounding trails with as much singletrack as possible. We started with a loop around JRPS in traditional style.

Is that a grimace from Bleecher already??

We picked up a few additional team members swelling to a group of nine at one point.


Yes, that is our fearless leader Jason.  No, he hasn't lost his bike this season.



We then ventured to Powhite where Plassman was able to show us the best line around the spaghetti of trails over there.  This trip seemed to bring some of the impetus out of the group.  We began dropping members as we headed to Powhite and then more once we left Powhite.



Stijls representing





The men behind the Stijls

Our group headed on a journey to the flats of Pony Pasture, Laurus Park and back to JRPS before finishing with another loop of Forest Hill.  To tired for photos by the end, there were four of us who completed the ride logging just under 60 miles.  Not quite the 100k we were hoping for, but a great team training ride.