Welcome Back Race Season

Well we are officially back!! Cross country racing is back in full swing again and we couldn't be more stoked! Just in time for the steamy weather too might I add. Race #1 of the 2010 NYS MTB Series was held this past weekend at the defunct Williams Lake Resort in Rosendale NY. Apparently there was a huge race held annually at the resort years ago that was a pretty big deal in the mountain biking community, but after the resort changed owners the race organizers pulled out. But now that the resort went out of business the fella's over at Favata's Table Rock Tours in Rosendale have been able to host a race there for the past 2 years now! I'll tell ya its pretty eerie racing past empty hotel and motel buildings where the beds are still made, but the trails are awesome and it even includes a cave which is a former iron mine that the race course literally rides thru! There was also a huge furnace I saw in the woods which I assume was for the smelting of the iron ore that presumably came from the "cave" we rode thru. Anyway the race was great! There was a huge turnout of over a 150 riders and the weather was HOT! But we dodged the rain that hit other areas of NY that same day so thats good.

My first race was pretty good I'd say. I actually trained and worked my butt off all winter for this! I've got a podium to defend after all! Well I was happy with my riding, I even passed a few girls which in my head led me to believe I secured the #3 spot on the podium. Woop Woop to that! But when I checked the results it turned out I placed 5th. So with a sad face, I sucked it up to my over excitedness and didn't say anything. But when I got home I started sniffing around a little and I noticed that the names of the 2 "girls" that finished ahead of me seemed more like guys names so I contacted the race promoter and he in turn contacted the race official. Well guess what?? During the race registration a mistake was made and the 2 guys were accidentally signed up in the cat 3 women's category and not the cat 3 mens. So we're waiting to hear back from Favata's to see if they are willing to call the riders in question just to verify that they are in fact "men" (which I'm almost 100% positive they are). I'll let you know when and if I ever hear back, but it did make me feel better knowing that I did as well as I initially thought.

This race was also Rick's first time racing Category 1. Boy there was some fierce competition going on there! There was approx. 20 riders and he finished 6th which is great! He's super excited and happy with his results and he should be. And he's doing the right thing on top of it, he could have stayed in the Cat 2 group and dominated, but he moved up to Cat 1 where its more challenging. I think its great when riders do that and I've got a bit of a chip on my shoulder about a certain female rider who looks like she's going to be sandbagging my category this season, but more on that another time. So thats it for now, Tha Jones' were pretty happy with the race and it was great seeing all of our awesome race friends on top of it. We're totally stoked on the season thats for sure!

Photo of me courtesy of Doug Southwick