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UNR Race, September 24th
Last year, Reno was also the first race of the season, before school started, and
we considered ourselves lucky to have a few hardy souls make the trip. But I was
personally shocked when more than a dozen people showed up to the Reno racers'
meeting last week! The crowd included downhillers and cross-country riders, men
but sadly only one woman, new and returning riders alike. By Friday afternoon we
had a group of 13 racers, with 16 bikes, in 5 cars on their way up into the Sierras.
Half the group stayed the night with a friend of Guru Rafer, while the other half stayed in the house of another UNR racer. We shared these luxurious accommodations with the HSU team, while UC Davis was banished to the lawn, from whence the wind brought hint of an occasional pigskin-related gibe.
We arrived at the Peavine course before the sun, with temperatures well below 50
for our much-needed warm-ups. The XC course is one of the more challenging in the
league, and probably the most rocky and technical the team will have to face this season. The race began with MA, starring Eon Rios and Andrew Lizotte for Stanford. Unfortunately, neither racer was able to make it through their three laps successfully, as multiple flats-- 3 for Eon!-- and broken parts brought their bikes to a halt. The MB field featured the racing debut of five new Stanford mountain bike team members: Sam Goldman, Shawn Scully, Evan Pickett, Aaron Johnson, and Kevin Walters, plus veterans Andre Marta and myself. This group managed to average less than one flat/mechanical per person, thankfully, and all but Evan (beset by a faulty pump) crossed the finish line to earn valuable points for the team. MC featured our DH stars Matt Hale and Rafer, plus fellow XC-novice Constantin Chueshov; all raced well. The women's races brought hope for the future, with the debut at Reno of Lisa Stright, who upon entering her first bike race ever proceeded to contend for the lead, until her pedals and crankset conspired to fail in the home stretch, rendering her bike unrideable and reducing her otherwise fine performance to an unfortunate DNF.
The afternoon was time for DH: 50-pound bikes, 2.7" tires, and armor armor armor,
just in time for the afternoon heat. Kevin and I stayed around for a bit to help
with shuttling for the practice runs. Official results have not been posted yet
to the WCCC site (as with XC), but Eon, Rafer, and Matt all got solid runs in the
MA field, with a good chance to break the top 10. Eon added two more flats in his
first DH run, for a record-setting total of five flats in one day of racing!
Overall, we had a great turnout, especially for a pre-school race, and earned a
good block of points for the team. We head into the heart of the season well-prepared
for the competition. The Parkfield race, next weekend, is usually the biggest race
of the year in terms of turnout, and features DS and STXC competition in addition
to XC and DH. Parkfield is also an event not to be missed-- all Stanford Cyclists
even considering trying mountain biking are encouraged to come out for a group ride
this week, with an eye towards joining us at Parkfield this weekend. We would
especially love to see more women riders come out-- Lisa's good, but she deserves
some company out there! Team bikes are available ... I'll see you out on the trail.
submitted by Dan McGarry
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