Going the Distance
This race was part of the kooka kup series in northern nevada. These races are all cheap, fun, well-organized, and feature good courses. The bite of the wolf was only a 4 mile loop, but it was fast and twisty singletrack. I went out too fast and started to fade at then end. 100 meters from the line I got caught by a full-on type A spaz. I don't know why anyone racing in the vet class would get so hyperactive about racing, but this guy does. Anyway, I was 3rd behind marty cunningham (a very fast vet rider) and spaz boy. SuperDan Garcia was 3rd in the 19-34 pro-expert class. Both of us got some cash and some camel-bak-like things. Keith and Steve both raced and finished and didn't die, which is good.
It's a good thing this course is fun, because I always suck here. This year was no exception. I spent the whole previous day moving furniture (we got tossed out of our rental because the landlord discovered our cats), so i was pretty pooped. To complicate matters, everyone i needed to beat seemed to ride pretty well. I ended up way back in 10th place, which put me in 5th or so for the series. Dan ended up 4th overall in the series. I still had a pretty good time though.
The final race of the kooka cup series went off on aug 30th at sky tavern ski resort, in between reno and incline. The organizer told me on the phone that the course wasn't very technical but it was fun. right. The downhills were very loose and sandy, and filled with sharp gnashy rocks. The uphills were long and steep. In between it was bumpy and twisty and all kinds of stuff. To top it off, the whole thing was around 8000 feet. I definitely suffered in the altitude, but I managed to struggle into 4th, which gave me the overall series title. The spaz guy was all dancing around because he thought his 2nd place was good enough to win the overall. Apparently they don't teach a lot of arithmetic over there in reno. Dan was 4th in pro-expert 19-34, behind 2 fast pros and one fast expert. Unfortunately, I won't be able to do the kooka cup next year, because it's just too dang far from my new home, but if you get a chance to race in northern nevada at all, these are highly recommended.