2007 Cross Country

[Brent]

Crazy, you should start racing vet master, you would have done well!! I remember you on the start line, you were very focused, your eyes were about as big as tomatos. i bet you had a good lead right up to that intersection and i am sorry you were the guy that missed the live check.....you were going too fast!! VET MASTER for you i think.

i have an extra red gas can left at the pits, a blue cooler that is labeled "Lee Bookingblock" and a heavey wooden table that we used for sign in......and 1st place Vet Junior! which is Ron Scott and i think Ron took the 2nd place trophy. oops, sorry.

also the 2nd place vet master trophy for Darren Lutz. ladies A 3rd place trophy and the bidding begins.

saturday racers results will be posted soon.

[markvfr]

I'll drop my name in the hat for the Ladies A trophy...

And Derek, you weren't the only one who missed the junction. Chucker somehow ended up with a third dead check punch at the end and we figured out that he somehow did the intermediate/pro section as well.

[cladoo]

Deleted

[thirtyseven]

Crazy I know what Dirtboywas talking about, that 2nd loop had some brutal stuff but the fact that I passed three "intermediates" 15 min into the race on things that wernt that tough leads me to wonder about their qualification as intermediates. THere was nothing in the first loop that we havnt all seen at Livingston or Racehorse creek.

[hoppy]

All I have to say is "WOW"
Now that I have had 2 days to rest, and not think about how much it hurts to walk I wanna say "What a race"

Thanks to all who were involved in the making of The Grizzly, thank you to all of you who didn't run me over, or send me and my bike hurling down about a 100 ft ravine, as I and my bike were strategically placed on the worst part of the course !!!

Thank you to all the sweepers who helped me and especially Shaun, I'd still be there in the fetal position on the trail !!
Thanks to Noel, who gave me the first gulp of H2O that I had, had in the last 30 kms, as I sucked mine dry in the first 10 !!!!!

Man, that was tough, but some awesome riding and scenery

Hoppy

[drtbkr]

If the gas can has some orange ribbon and green tape on the handle it is mine. I was too tired too remember to get it.

[hoppy]

[knuckle]

Crazy I know what Dirtboywas talking about, that 2nd loop had some brutal stuff but the fact that I passed three "intermediates" 15 min into the race on things that wernt that tough leads me to wonder about their qualification as intermediates. THere was nothing in the first loop that we havnt all seen at Livingston or Racehorse creek.

I can tell you what happens. It is the system where you must enter in the last class that you raced in. Due to lack of riding over the past few years my skills/speed has diminished quite a bit but I still ride the class when I was faster. You may have had a lot of old time racers that only raced the Grizzly. Sounds like it was a lot of fun and I am sorry I missed it. Next year and keep it tough. I miss the old style X/C's

[chucker]

ugh. 2 days later and still feeling it. First time racing and it had to be the Grizzly. Go figure. It felt like a 3 hour plane crash.

I was line up between MarkVFR and Dobi. When the flag was raised, I ducked in behind Dobi and kept thinking of what he told me earlier in the day, "just ride your race and go at your own speed". Well, that went out the window in the first five minutes. I made it as far as 3rd and then it all fell apart. I got stuck in the first creek crossing, and watched in despair as guys flew past. Great. Then my forks started acting up, they became really stiff and I noticed after the race I have a badly leaking seal. Chris Bonneau, here I come...

Like Mark said, I also ended up with 3 punches. I though things went from bad to worse at one point! Ah, well. A little extra seat time never hurt. All in all, a good first race, I finished 7th in Junior and beat half the intermediate times. Thanks to the volunteers and to everyone involved in making it happen, especially Mrs. Dobi for babysitting Mark and I. As she put it when we were dicking around with our check tags, "you look like a couple of kids at craft time!" Hopefully I won't pack on the winter poundage and be back for next year's race series to do better.

Simon #818

[thirtyseven]

In that case I will happily stay slow and "race" with the old guys.....

[dirtyboy]

this XC from day 1 was planned to be as tuff as we could make it. that's the definition of The Grizzly.

I wasn't aware that this race was designed to be as tough as we could make it.

The Ironman race concept and race showcased our exceptional Pro level talent and provide a little benchmark for the Pros to evaluate their skills given that Last man Standing is approaching towards the end of the year.

The intermediate issue. Last year the Junior class was way too large. The classes were changed in Vet and many were encouraged to move up to Intermediate so that the Junior class could become more manageable. Now all of the classes are more even in numbers but that doesn't mean that the Intermediates are almost Pro level like it was in the past. Check out the times of the all the classes at the CMA races (they have an assume bar code lap scoring system) and you will see that most of the classes are very close in speed except for their Expert class. The Expert class is way faster just as the Pro class is here.

It's great that many reports are from happy riders, however I do notice that all of them were only on the Junior loop.

I was happy with the Junior loop also even though I rode over 20km of it without a left foot peg. I believe I waved Simon #818 and other red number bikes by me as I tried to ride smooth and complete the Junior loop sitting and standing on only my right foot peg. After I replaced the foot peg, and my pit crew filled my camelbak and gas tank (Thanks so much. I felt like a Nascar pit crew was looking after me), I went out on the Pro loop and found it to be too advanced for my Vet skill and fitness level.

I now have an appreciation of the amount of work that goes on for XC compared to a HS. BigDog you and the crew put a tremendous of work into this race.

[MtnBlue]

I didn't do this race for a number of reasons (selling my bike and bad knee, got knee surgery today, being some of them), but basically in reading Dirtyboy's post I was of a similar opinion. I just didn't feel my skill level was up to the pro loop. I flagged part of the B loop, and felt it would be a good challenge to complete 2 laps of this(especially the version that went through the woods and into Hazard county). I rode that loop last tuesday at a moderate pace and it took me close to 3hrs(with a few stops). Maybe I should re-think my class and drop back to Vet jr. I like the longer races, but haven't progressed enough to ride the tougher stuff that the pro loop contained ( i did ride parts of it earlier in the year ). I'm glad a lot of the reports are positive, especially from the Juniors. That is the class that usually represents the largest #"s and keeps the sport growing. Kudos to Brent, Darren, Dobi and everyone else that helped to put on the event. Alot of work was done. It's pretty hard to put a race on like this that is perfect for everyone

[knuckle]

Soundslike three loops in the future. I recall some of the old Green Meanies were run with three loops.

[Dobi]

Here is a list of the prize draws for Sunday. We could not do this without all the help of our sponsors:
Motovan
Woodmaster Homes
Westech Automotive
Cycle Works Calgary
Sosa Original Clothing
Walt Healy's
Seitzco Motosports
High River Motosports
Pioneer Proffesional Services Group
Spinalguy Chiropractic
Process Pathways
Homewright Electrical (Shawn Brennan)
Bow Cycle

Congratulations to all the prize winners, details are included in the document.

[Ready185]

Thanks to the RMDRA for such a fun B Loop. Although the last hill was clearly too much for the beginners and some juniors (and me the second time, with all the downed traffic), this B Loop was my favourite of the season, with Smith a close runner-up! Like Smith, the Grizzly was so much fun because of the variety: Single track, quad trail, road, rocks, roots, logs, and grass. There was a bit of everything and we got to use every gear in the transmission. My favorite was that third-gear double track in the third quarter of the loop.

I can't speak about the A loop, other than to say I'm glad I didn't have to do it!

I have to agree with Derek about signage at the Pro split--thankfully I was directed to the right, otherwise I'd have gone straight, too. Can't agree that it blew Derek's season, though, and I wouldn't want the volunteers to feel too badly about it. As crazy2wheeler already has two second place finishes in XC this year, a win at the Grizzly would only have resulted in an extra 3 points for him towards the series (take your best two XC finishes). Similarly, my second place finish in the Griz only resulted in a 2 point upgrade on the season--I rode for the fun, which it certainly was!

Thanks again to the RDMRA and its volunteers for a great B loop and for their effort in matching the level of difficulty to the different classes.

Lee Ready.