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West Side Mountain Bike Series #1
6 February 2005
Report by: Barry Campbell
The first race of 2005, of any sort, for Joe Bar Racing was the first race in the West
Side Mountain Bike Series, at South SeaTac Park. Ben and I entered the Beginner race, and
Wilbur made his debut for the team in the Sport race. It was a cold, rainy, dark morning
at 7:15am when Ben and I got there, and wasn't much better by the time we headed out for a
practice loop at about 7:45.
The course was about a 2.75 mile lap, with about 3/4 lap to start. The Beginner class did 2
full laps after the first time across the finish, which was also the first time through the
sand pit. Ben loved the sand pit, he said he made almost all of his passes there. I rode
it once, while we were warming up, then ran it every time after that. It was wet and slippery
everywhere that it wasn't paved or sand, and getting worse as the rain continued. The second
half of the course went west of the entrance road, and had some slippery singletrack climbing
in it. Nothing too technical, though, and in fact the guy who won the Beginner race did it on
a cross bike.
The start of the course seemed to favor roadies more than mountain bikers, as the first half
mile from the start was paved, gently uphill. I got stuck behind two riders who seemed to be
uninterested in getting the hole shot to the hard right turn onto the singletrack, but Ben
managed to get a clearer shot and was twenty yards or so ahead of me. As I passed Will and J,
who were standing about halfway up the starting straight, the two riders moved apart enough that
I took the shot between them, then caught and passed Ben. I picked off a couple more riders and
got to the singletrack in about 6th. Ben was close behind me. The first section was narrow and
slippery, so no passing there. I followed the guy ahead of me, about an inch off his wheel,
for a while, told him he was holding up traffic, then passed him the first chance I got. I
didn't look back, but it sounded like several others went by him as well.
By the back half of the first full lap, I was, once again, riding an inch from some guy's wheel
up the climb, with Ben right behind me. Unfortunately, by now my brakes were nearly useless.
Excuses? Yeah, maybe. Anyway, on the way down, a short downhill into a sweeping left hand turn,
I made the discovery that my rear brakes actually WERE useless, realized I would never make the
corner, and managed to lock up the front wheel and ride it down the hill for a surprising distance
(without, of course, slowing down at all) before it slid out and I bailed for the bushes. Ben
said I was very cooperative, leaving him a clear line through the carnage. Two kids went by while
I got my chain straightened out. I rode out the rest of that lap, then cruised the next one.
The two kids were ahead of me, no threat since they weren't in my age group, and the guy behind
me was out of sight. No point killing myself for no reason...
I ended up finishing in 7th in the Beginner race, and 2nd in my age group. Ben managed to hold off
at least one of the kids, and got 4th, 3rd in his age group.
In the Sport race, Will started strong, cruising up the straight to the singletrack in the lead. We
didn't really see the hole shot, so he may have gotten passed by a couple of people at the trail. When
they came by the parking lot the first time, he was in 6th, and stayed there for the rest of the race.
The lead group of 4 got away in the starting lap, and stayed away to fight for points. Will cruised in,
holding off one challenger for the last few hundred yards to finish 6th in the Sport race, and 4th in the
19-34 age group.
Results:
Beginner:
Ben Ulness 4th overall, 3rd 19-34
Barry Campbell 7th overall, 2nd 35-44
Sport:
Wilbur Kelly 6th overall, 4th 19-34
Pictures
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