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| Tom Dunlap, fast old guy. |
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| This is Jeff Rapetti, who owns the land we're racing on. | ||
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| Doh! It's me. Fortunately, you can't tell how hard I'm flailing. |
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| Donna Sisson, of BlackMarket, crushing her competition. | ||
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| Howie and me. This Must be the first lap, cuz i'm still near. |
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| Donna, still crushing the men. |
The Southern Mines CX series closed out with the usual Blackmarket domination. The 7th and 8th races of the series were held in Murphys and Tuolomne, respectively. For once, the weather was kind to us. Frosty temperatures early gave way to comfortable sunshine. It seems like a long time since we've raced in the sun.
Saturday's race was held at the palatial estate of the Rapetti family, on a hilltop at the edge of the earth, overlooking the Stanislaus River canyon. The Rapettis have an excellent off-road playground, suitable for cyclocross or supercross. They provided a toasty woodstove in their barn (through which the course ran), as well as some xmas-y refreshments. They also provided about 25% of the field, since all the male members of the family race.
Unfortunately, the new cross series in Monterey seems to be adversely affecting the field size in the foothills. Too bad, because 3/4 of the races this year had pretty good cross courses. Jungle cross seems to be on the way out. Only three competitors entered the A's race. Of the three, only BlackMarket team captain Mark Howland had any legs. I tried to stay with him, but blew up instead. I barely managed hold off local boy Tom Dunlap.
Sunday saw actual sun at Sonka's apple ranch. Out of the 4 times I've raced there, I've had 2 terrible races in the sun and two great races in the snowy rain. Howie took an easy victory, followed by me again, then Tom Dunlap in 3rd and Steve Jakubiak of VeloSapiens in 4th. Photos will be up by 12/27/97 I believe, perhaps comprehensive final results as well.