RACE REPORT: 2007 CCCX DH #1

I haven't seen the results or a race report yet Results have been posted for the first CCCX Downhill of the season. It looks like a big turnout -- I see over 150 riders listed. Some photos from today's race are posted at PhotoBucket. Thanks to Prettym1k3 for posting these.

Rick has also posted some photos over at SmugMug.

The course seemed to be similar to a few of the past courses:
Congratulations to Evan Turpen who won the Pro / Semi-Pro race.

NorCal Racing This Weekend: Feb 17-18, 2007

The early racing season is fully in swing now, but all the racing opportunities are on the California coast this weekend:

• Saturday is the inaugural 2007 CCCX Downhill. See the story below for course details and get up early so that you can get your practice runs in -- its a long hike up the hill after a good Friday night. The CCCX Downhill is held in Toro Park between Monterey and Salinas.
• On Sunday, its the cross country riders turn: CCCX XC #2 at Fort Ord East Garrison. Make sure you've seen the new directions to get in (different from last year).

With the weather supposed to be perfect most of the weekend, this is a good chance to start your practice for the Sea Otter.

dhRENO Race Report For Southridge #3

The folks over at dhRENO have posted their race report for the latest Southridge downhill event in Fontana (SoCal). Looks like some good racing.

SCOUTING REPORT: 2007 CCCX DH #1

Race information for the opening race of the CCCX downhill (DH) has been posted:

"The course has been selected for race #1. It looks to be a true DH test with some railing trails that have never been used before for any cycling event. The opening is high speed, with some roller coaster like sections, where riders can really get some serious speed. There are a few blind turns where gravity will be felt as racers swoop off of hills and drops at high speeds. Then the course dips into some super tight single track trails that highlights braking and turning ability of rider and bike. Be sure and watch your speed here as it is steep and tight and there is a high possibility of over shooting some tight turns. This route looks to have perfect traction in the dirt with the past few rains, and if the weather holds up, this could be one of the sweetest DH courses around! Like in all CCCX DH races, there will be some pedaling near the end that will check your fitness and form ... Please remember to respect other Toro Park users and be thankful to the Toro Park Rangers for allowing the DH races to take place! There is a 30 minute hike to get to the start area."

CCCX DH #1 is this coming Saturday at Toro Park near Monterey, registration open from 8 AM until 11 AM.

NORBA Drops Cougar Mountain From 2007 Schedule

Hmmm . . . a curious change for the NORBA Nationals series:

We have added the Firestone Santa Ynez Valley Mountain Bike Classic Santa Barbara, CA for cross country, short track and Super D and the Chile Challenge Angel Fire Resort, NM for downhill and 4X series points. These two venues replace the Infineon Cougar Mountain Classic.

Now don't go jumping to conclusions that Infineon Cougar Mountain Classic is cancelled -- in fact, they just put up a new website. This just means that it isn't a NORBA event this year. Which is probably a good thing :> The entire series schedule can be found in a PDF at their site. For the impatient, the 2007 NORBA series now consists of:

• 03/30/07: NOVA National presented by Bear Naked Cannondale
• 04/28/07: Firestone Santa Ynez Valley Mountain Bike Classic XC/STXC presented by TREK-VW
• 05/04/07: Fontana National presented by KONA Bicycles
• 05/26/07: The Chile Challenge Angel Fire Resort Angel Fire, New Mexico
• 06/15/07: Deer Valley Resort National presented by Subaru-Gary Fisher
• 07/27/07: Showdown at Sugar National presented by Maxxis Tires
• 08/10/07: Snowmass National presented by LUNA

This change continues two trends for NORBA: abandonment of the the NorCal scene and the divorce from USA Cycling. I'll update the calendar again (sigh).

Sand Hill Spring Gravity Series

P&R Sports have announced their 2007 Spring schedule, along with a few details:

Here are the spring dates:

• March 3, 2007 (4X / Mountaincross)
• March 17, 2007 (Dual Slalom)
• March 31, 2007 (4X / Mountaincross)
• April 7, 2007 (Dual Slalom) and Series raffle

We are completely rebuilding the Dual Slalom course over the winter, and Gravity Addix has purchased an electronic eye timing system (Yaaayyyy!!!) ... Sign-ups from 8- 10 am. Qualifying for Dual Slalom starts at 10:15 and the heat races for the four-cross will start at 11 am.

Sand Hill Gravity Park is located near Antioch in the East Bay Area. Check the archives for reports on last year's Spring and Fall series.

RACE RESULTS: CCCX XC #1

The results are in for the first CCCX XC race of 2007. See the beginner, sport and expert results over at the CCCX site. They also have a link to some great photos over at Rocky Arroyo Photography. Congrats to Cesar Chavez (Buy-cell.com) who appears to have won the expert overall.

The course maps are also in. It looks like the course was about 5 miles with 600' of climbing per lap.

RACE RESULTS: 2007 Buck Ridge

Results for the 2007 Buck Ridge race have been posted. Congratulations to Stephen Ray who won the Elite Mens race. Mindi Webster was the top female finisher.

Mike Morris was the lucky drawing winner for a Giant Anthem (pictured at right).

Brews, Bikes, Bucks Benefit Tonight

If you are in the North Bay area tonight (Sunday, Feb 11th, 2007) and looking to help a good cause, head over to the ninth annual "Brews, Bikes and Bucks" party at San Rafael's Broken Drum Brewery. It supports the youth programs of Trips for Kids by donating proceeds from food and drink sales. In addition, a wide variety of valuable bike-related prizes will be raffled off, including the grand prize of a brand new Jamis mountain bike. The event kicks off at 2pm and goes until 6pm. The Broken Drum is located at 1132 Fourth Street in San Rafael. Admission is free.

2007 NorCal State Championships

It looks like the promoters of the Cal State Championship have realized that having one event in the NorCal and 10 events in SoCal doesn't really make for a good California State Championship, so this year they are splitting them up. From the Team BigBear site:

2007 marks a change in format. The state will be split in half with two separate series taking place. This year’s Southern California addition will feature 5 races with racers scoring points for their 4 best finishes. Note: you do not need to race all 5 races. All races will be scored on a 60 point system with each race being counted equally. There will not be any 1 ½ point races. Online registration will open Feb 1st.

While Team BigBear will continue to promote the SoCal edition (along with the NORBA series), Team BigFoot seems to be coordinating the Northern Series. Here are the events for the NorCal State MTB Championship Series:

• March 31: Pre-Otter, Arcata (MTB STXC)
• April 22: Napa Valley Dirt Classic, Napa (MTB XC)
• May 27: Gravity Day, Weaverville (MTB Super-D, DH)
• June 30: CCCX Cross Country, Monterey (MTB XC)
• July 1: CCCX Downhill, Monterey (MTB DH)
• July 20-21: Bigfoot Classic, Near Arcata (MTB Super-D, XC, DH, STXC)
• Aug. 12: Howell Mountain Classic, Napa (MTB XC)
  
• Sept. 8-9: Whiskeytown Classic, Whiskeytown Lake (MTB XC, STXC)
• Sept. 22-23: Humboldt Hoedown, Arcata (MTB XC, STXC & hopefully DH)
• Oct. 19-21: Lagrange Fall Classic, Weaverville (MTB Super-D, XC, STXC)

This is very, very good. Not sure what the Humboldt Hoedown is, it appears to be new.

MotionBased Posts Sea Otter Course Maps

Building on last year's work, Motionbased.com has posted detailed maps, GPS tracks and videos for this year's Sea Otter Classic courses. Over in the Team Motionbased blog, they detail their plans to sync the maps with views of the courses. You can even download the GPS tracks down to your Garmin GPS. Good stuff for preriding the courses.

RACE REPORT: MTB Challenge #1

The overall results have been posted from yesterday's MTB Challenge #1 out at Folsom Lake but we are still waiting for the divisional breakdowns. The divisional results have also been posted !

GPS maps of the race course have also been posted:
The elevation seems about standard for the TBF races:

Congrats to the following Expert class winners:

• Expert Male 19 & Under: Jeremy Ferguson
• Expert Male 20-29: Ben Dodge
• Expert Male 30-39: Bob Delp
• Expert Male 40-49: Keith DeFiebre
• Expert Male 50-59: Paul Zarubin
• Expert Male 60-69: Bob Blatner
• Expert Female 20-29: Renee Ridgley
• Expert Female 40-49: Meiling Yee
  

While you are waiting, you can check out the pictures that are posted here.

RACE RESULTS: CCORC #3 ST & TT

Race results have been posted for the finale of the CCORC short track (ST) and time trials (TT) in Fresno last weekend.

Congratulations to:

• Keith Defiebre (open wheel ST & expert men's TT winner)
• Pat O’Rourke
  
• Melinda Webster (women's beginner ST & TT)
• Garrett Chenelt
• Tom Knott
• David Hardcastle
• Ed Lund, Steven’s (ST & TT winner)
• Steve Ray, Steven’s
  
• Conner Reddington
  
• Tom Knott, Team BFD
  
• Jorden Webster, Steven’s
  
• George Knott, Team BFD
  

This wraps up the CCORC winter series.

SCOUTING REPORT: MTB Challenge #1

After the kickoff of the season last weekend in Fresno, it's the Sierra's turn with TBF Racing MTB Challenge #1. The festivities start at 9 AM on Sunday at Folsom Lake in Granite Bay, CA. Race lengths for the XC course are 6, 12, 18 or 24 miles (1 - 4 laps). Race day registration for the race will cost you $50.

So it still looks like tomorrow's race may actually be dry this year. I haven't seen any trail conditions, but I live near the lake and we really haven't gotten much rain this year, so the trail should be great. It looks like the temperature might be a bit cold in the morning, but the forecast calls for highs in the 60s and light overcast.

For those of you who didn't do the Challenge last year, you can see the race report here. It goes over the course details (another map here) and my poor performance I would imagine that the course will be largely similar - lots of singletrack, some pavement areas and a bit of sand.

You can look in the archives for full coverage of last year's racing.

Benefit for John Fisher

As I mentioned in my post for the CCORC race last week, promoter John Fisher was seriously injured in a skiing accident a few weeks ago. His friends and family are having a benefit dinner for him on Saturday down in Sanger, CA.

If you are in the area, stop by and help out. You can follow John's progress at http://myspace.com/johnglennfisher.